Not What I Expected
by livelifeanime
Summary: Sasuke expects everything to be the same on his way back to the Hidden Leaf Village. A stop on his journey reveals otherwise. Sakura has a child? How will Sasuke react to this new discovery? SasuXSaku I fixed all errors and made changes
1. An unlikely place

**_Sauske's thoughts_**

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He made his way through the village, looking for a small restaurant. He had been traveling for about three days now and had run out of food that morning. After the injuries that he has sustained, he would need all the energy he could get. He was really tired by the time he reached the small ramen shop in the middle of the village. 

"Can I get an order of ramen?"

The vendor looked up from his place and smiled. "Sure thing."

As the young Uchiha waited, there was suddenly a large uproar in the village. Then, a young woman appeared in the shop. "They're back! The ninja are back!"

_**Ninja?**_

When the vendor was about to leave, Sasuke grabbed his arm and turned to face him. "What ninja?"

The vendor blinked and quickly explained the situation. "There was a murderer around here that always targeted young girls. It was up to nine deaths when we asked for assistance from the ninja. They're the elite of Konoha."

At the mention of Konoha Sasuke let go of the man's arm.

_**Konoha? Ninja from Konoha? This isn't good. They don't know that I killed Orochimaru yet. To them, I'm still a missing nin. It's been eight years since I've seen anyone from the Hidden Leaf Village. They probably won't recognize me, but just in case.**_

He quickly preformed hand signals and his facial appearance changed. His eyes became a light brown, his face more pointed, and his tone slightly darker. Surly no one would recognize him now. He got up and walked to the crowd forming in the middle of the village. All around the villagers murmured. As he got closer the ninja, he felt some familiar chakra signatures. When he was finally able to see the ninja, he was stunned.

There, standing in the middle of the crowd, was old team seven.

**_TBC..._**

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I'm still continuing Love is a Battlefield, but the idea of this story came to me one day when i couldn't sleep and i just couldn't ignore it. Just to say right now, I have nothing against Sakura at all. She's one of my favorite characters in the whole series, but the thing that happens to her only happens for drama, not because I hate her. You'll understand as the story unravels. 

Plz review!


	2. Sofai?

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

* * *

_**They're the elite of Konoha? **_

Sasuke continued staring at the figures in the middle of the crowd. There stood Kakashi with his Make-Out tactics book. Naruto had his goofy grin on, holding the back of a tied up man's shirt.

_**I'm guessing that's the murderer. Same old Naruto and Kakashi.**_

Then the Uchiha turned his attention to Sakura. He had to refrain from gaping at her. She was so different! Her hair was still short and neat. She had filled out perfectly. She was stunning. Her emerald eyes looked his way and he felt as if they had pierced his very soul. They had only glimpsed him once, then turned in another direction. She was acting as if she was looking for something, or rather, someone.

_**She looks so different. She looks more mature. Not at all like my old fan girl. **_

"Excuse me. Excuse me please. Coming through."

Sauske turned to see Hinata Hyuuga coming towards the three ninja. Something was trailing behind her, Hinata's hand firmly holding onto it. When they finally broke through to the middle of the circle, the thing behind Hinata broke out of her grip. She ran towards Sakura.

"Momma!"

Sakura looked around to where the noise came from and when she saw the little girl, her entire face lit up. She knelt down and picked the little girl up. She gave her a big hug, the little girl giggling the whole time.

_**Momma? Sakura's a mother?!?**_

Sasuke was just looking at the scene before him. Sakura was just hugging the little girl, kissing her face and twirling her around. When the little girl was finally put down, she ran towards Naruto.

"Uncle Naruto!"

Now it was Naruto's turn to pick up the little girl. She was hugging him while he told her how much he missed his favorite niece. When he put her down, she ran towards Kakashi.

"Kakashi-bachan!" she yelled while running to hug Kakashi's leg.

Kakashi looked down from his book to see the little girl hugging his leg.

"I've already told you, I'm not your grandpa." He said in a firm voice.

The little girl let go of his leg and looked away sadly. She had the face of a sad angel. Kakashi could never stand that face. He put his book away and knelt down.

"I'm not your grandpa Sofai, but I could be your uncle like Naruto."

Sofai slowly turned around, the unshed tears glistening in her eyes. "You promise?"

Kakashi smiled through his mask. "I swear." Sofai wiped away her tears and tackled Kakashi into an embrace.

_**So her name is Sofai. If Naruto isn't the father, then who is? Who would dare touch MY Sakura. She had told me that she would wait for me, that she would always love me. I guess I should have seen this coming. I mean, I have been gone for eight years. **_

They leader of the village was speaking to Naruto, Kakashi, Hinata, and Sakura now, leaving Sofai to turn slowly in a circle to examine the circle of villagers around her. Sasuke took this chance to observe the girl. She had black hair, almost as dark as his. Her eyes were emerald, like Sakura's. She was tall and fair skinned. When the leader was finished speaking, the group turned their attention back to Sofai. She had been twirling in a circle for sometime now, and when she stopped she was dizzy.

Sakura giggled lightly and picked up her daughter.

"Lets go you guys. I'm tired and I think it would be better if Sofai laid down for a while."

The group agreed and headed towards a hotel in the village. They passed right by him. When they passed, Naruto had turned back for a moment, looking almost directly at Sasuke.

Sakura noticed and looked in the same direction as Naruto. "What's wrong Naruto-kun?"

While Naruto looked around, Sasuke masked his chakra. Naruto looked around to Sakura.

"I thought I felt, nevermind. It was probably nothing."

Sakura nodded and turned back around, her daughter sleeping in her arms. They kept walking towards the hotel.

_**Maybe staying in the village one more day before I make my way back won't be such a bad idea.  
**_

Sasuke followed them from a distance. They walked into the hotel and went directly to their rooms. Sasuke went in after them and asked for a room for one. He got the key and went to take a break in his room. Today had been a long day.

_**TBC…**_

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I know that the chapters are short right now. I' m sorry for that. I'll make sure they get longer in later chapters. p.s Sofai is pronounced So-fai-ee, fai rhymes with why, it's just easier to spell Sofai. 

Please Review!


	3. The picture

_**Sasuke's thoughts.**_

* * *

Sasuke slowly got up, the sun shining through his window. He walked to the dresser that was in the room and looked at his reflection. Not much had really changed since he left Konaha eight years ago. His hair was still jet black, and his eyes still so dark you couldn't see your eyes looking back at you. He was now taller than he was before by several inches. He took one more look at himself in the mirror and walked away. 

_**If you dwell on the past, you'll never move forward. **_

He made his way downstairs to the restaurant located inside of the hotel. He sat down and made his order. He sat there, waiting for the waiter to come back with his green tea. When the waiter did come, he set the cup down and Sasuke thanked him. He took one sip of the tea and let the warm liquid work its way down to his stomach. The restaurant was small. He was seated outside facing the hotel's large garden.

The sound of small laughter made him turn his attention away from the table. In the garden was little Sofai, playing happily with a toy Uncle Naruto had bought her. She was bouncing the little ball everywhere, watching as it lit up when it touched the ground. He went back to staring strait ahead of him, mainly at the table. Then he felt something lightly tap his foot. He looked down and saw the little toy Sofai had been playing with.

"Oh no. Where did it go? Mommy will kill me if she find out I lost it already."

Sasuke heard the movement of small feet running from one side of the garden to the other. He bent slightly to pick up the ball. The little girl looked up and smiled when she saw her ball. She ran over to Sasuke, smiling. Her emerald eyes pierced his onyx ones.

"Excuse me mister. Can I have my ball back?"

She smiled sweetly, her hands held behind her back. She was rocking on her feet, her big eyes looking into his with all the innocence a child has. He smiled and handed the ball back to her.

"Thank you," she said, holding the ball in one of her delicate hands. "Hey, you look like the man in one of momma's pictures."

Sasuke paused mid-sip of his tea. "Picture?"

Sofai nodded and smiled again. "Momma has an old picture of her and Uncle Naurto and Gran….I mean Uncle Kakashi. There was another person there that looks like you. It was of team seven."

Sasuke nodded. He took another sip of his tea and set it back down.

Sofai took this as an opportunity to continue talking. "But that was a long time ago. Momma said that before I was born they, Uncle Naruto had just come back and they formed Team Kakashi. Momma said that it was because they were all equal and before Uncle Kakashi used to be their teacher. But she never told me what happened to the other man in the picture. He had black hair and really dark eyes. And he was wearing a blue shirt. And he looked mean. Momma said that it was how he always looked, but I still say he looked really mad."

_**Wow, this girl talks a lot. Yet another thing she got from her mother.**_

"Well, I'm gonna go play now. Bye mister!" With that, she scurried off to her previous area, playing with the light up ball. When she left, the waiter came by and dropped of his rice balls. He took a bite out of one.

_**So Sakura still talks about me huh? In all that little girl said, I still can't figure out who the father is. Obviously, judging by her hair color, the father had to have dark hair. **_

While he finished up the rest of his rice balls, he was thinking of all the possibilities of who it could have been.

"Momma!"

Sauske turned around. There, in the garden, was Sakura. She was holding up her daughter, nuzzling her neck with her nose. Sofai giggled, wrapping her arms around her mother's neck.

"Momma, you'll never guess who I found. There was this man who looked like the man in your picture!"

Sakura stopped and looked at her daughter seriously. "Sofai, what have I told you about lying?"

Sofai shook her head furiously. "I'm not lying momma! He's right over here."

She started pulling Sakura in the direction of the restaurant. She was telling her mother the whole incident with her new toy, saying how the man had found it and given it back to her.

"And he's right over here momma. Honest."

She came to a stop right in front of Sasuke. He wasn't paying attention in their direction, still looking at the empty rice dish deep in thought.

"Hey mister!" Sofai said, pulling slightly on his sleeve.

Sasuke turned his attention to the little girl. He looked down at her, then looked up, following the person standing next to her. Onyx clashed with emerald.

"See momma! I told you he was here!"

Sakura was stunned. It was like another nightmare, but this one was real. Sasuke Uchiha was back, in the flesh.

"Mister, this is my momma. She's the one I told you about. She has the picture in our house inside our village. Momma, what was the name of the other man in the picture? The one that was mad?"

Sakura and Sasuke weren't paying attention to Sofai at all. They were too lost in each other's gazes to even notice that she had been talking. Sofai did not like this at all.

"Momma!" She yelled, rattling Sakura's hand back and forth trying to get her attention.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura whispered.

Sofai looked up at Sakura. Then she turned to face Sasuke. Sasuke had finally focused his attention away from Sakura and was getting up to leave. He stood directly in front of Sakura, towering over her. When he turned to leave, he felt a small hand clutch his sleeve. He turned around and Sofai was looking at him.

"Mister, you never told me your name."

Sasuke smiled and knelt down towards the little girl. She looked up at him expectantly. "My name is Uchiha. Sasuke Uchiha."

He turned around and walked back towards the entrance of the hotel. He quickly made his way back to his room and closed the door.

About five minutes later, there was a knock on his door. He got up from where he had sat on the bed and opened it. There, standing on the other side of the door, was none other than Naruto Uzumaki.

_**TBC…**_

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hehehe i got the insperation of how to write Sofai's personality from one of my little cousins. She's practically my little sister. Well, there's another chapter. The idea for this one came to me during my math test today. It was so distracting that i wrote a rough draft on my scratch paper. I really hope i did good on that test.

Please Review. Your opinions, good or bad, are always appreciated.


	4. A Traitor's tale

**_Sasuke's thoughts_**

Thank you so much to the people who have reviewed so far. Your support means so much to me.

* * *

"Hey Naruto." 

Naruto looked down right pissed off. His eyes were starting to flicker red and his face was twisted into a mad expression. He brought one of his fists back and landed it square in the Uchiha's face. Sasuke stumbled back a bit. He felt a bit of blood trickle down the side of his chin.

_**Well, he was gonna do it anyway. It's better if I just let him get it over with.**_

Sasuke stood there, taking every punch, kick, and jab Naruto threw at him. When the anger started to leave Naruto, he landed one more kick in Sasuke's stomach and sat on the bed, exhausted. Kakashi, Sakura, and Sofai entered the room about one minute later. Sakura quickly covered Sofai's eyes. Naruto was sitting on the bed with his knuckles dripping with blood, none of it his own. Sasuke was laying on the floor to one side of the bed, bloodied up and bruised. He sat down and wiped the blood off his face.

"I guess I deserved that." He said, spitting out some blood that was pooling in his mouth.

Kakashi stared unbelieving at the young Uchiha. It was as if a ghost from the past had come back.

"How long have you been here?" He asked, his eye never leaving Sasuke.

"I got here yesterday and decided to stay for a night." Sasuke said, still trying to clean his face of the blood.

"You are aware that you are a criminal. If you ever go back to Konoha, you'll be killed."

Sasuke smirked. "That's where you're wrong. I only brought one bag back with me from sound."

He pointed to a messenger bag on the dresser. Kakashi made a motion to go open it when Sasuke's voice stopped him.

"You might want her to leave the room. No child deserves to see that." He pointed to Sofai.

Kakashi nodded and motioned Sakura to leave the room. Sakura nodded and with one more glance at Sasuke, she left. Kakashi started to unlatch the bag. He looked inside and quickly closed his eye and looked away. Naruto saw the reaction and went to go look for himself. He looked and then looked away as if it burned his eye. Inside the bag was the severed head of Orochimaru.

"I've taken down the leading threat to Konoha. The hokage herself couldn't even do that. I think she'll take the apology."

Kakashi quickly redid the latch and nodded. Naruto looked at Sasuke and his eyes burned with a thousand questions. Kakashi noticed this and quickly excused himself from the room. When they were alone again Naruto still couldn't look at the Uchiha.

"Why did you do it?"

Sauske sighed and sat on the opposite side of the bed. "I don't know. I had learned all I could, and in a couple of days he was planning to take my body. Of course I would never let him. One day, he tried attacking me and I simply killed him."

Naruto nodded. "Does this mean the curse mark is gone?"

"Yeah. It disappeared almost immediately after he died."

"So when did you kill him?"

"Three days ago."

Naruto finally turned to face him. "Three days ago?!? That means you killed him, and then traveled all the way here in three days?"

Sasuke nodded. "That's why I stopped here. I was really exhausted."

Naruto looked down again. "Sorry I hit you."

"It's okay. If you didn't do it now, you would just do it later. And I deserved it after what I did."

There was a small silence while both reflected on their own thoughts. It was Sasuke who broke the silence.

"So, Sakura has a daughter now?"

Naruto sighed. "Yeah."

"Who's the father?" He sat waiting for the answer.

"I have no idea."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What do you mean you have no idea."

Naruto sighed again. "It's kind of a long story."

"We have time."

"Fine. It was about three years after you left. Sakura was only sixteen. Tsunade had sent her on a mission. She was supposed to be gathering information from another village. She had been gone two weeks when we found her limping through the forest, bloody and badly bruised. When Tsunade did her physical analysis to make sure everything was alright, we found out she was pregnant. When Sakura was told, she started crying hysterically. She never told us who the father was. Sakura decided to keep the baby because she was so alone, it would be her only family."

It took a while for Sasuke to comprehend all the information.

"So, she was raped?"

Naruto's fists clenched. "If you had seen her that day, you would know the answer to that question. Her leg was broken, her eyes were purple, her stomach was black and blue, her cheeks were swollen. She looked as if someone had attacked her with a bat."

Sasuke's fists clenched as well. Then, something suddenly clicked in his head.

"Wait, you said it would be her only family. What happened to her parents?"

Naruto's head lowered. "About a year before we found her in the forest, Itachi came back to the village. Sakura's parents were killed trying to defend her."

Sasuke's fists clenched tighter. He could feel a slight trickle of blood in his fist.

_**That bastard. He had already caused enough suffering to his own family, now he did the same to Sakura's. I swear I will kill him.**_

"Hello? Are you listening to me?"

Sasuke snapped back to reality. "Hn."

"He's dead you know."

Sasuke's eyes opened wide again. "Who?"

"Itachi. After Sofai was born, he came back to the village. We have no idea why, but he targeted Sofai. She was too little to defend herself and Sakura was treating people that Itachi had hurt. I jumped in and killed him before he had a chance to kill Sofai."

Sasuke's eyes closed.

_**I'm too late. Once again, Naruto was able to do something I was not. But at least he did it for a good reason. Now that Itachi's dead, that's one less thing I have to worry about.**_

"Well, I'll let you get some rest. It's been a long day."

He got up to leave and was already going to turn the knob.

"Hey Naruto, how did you know I was here?"

Naruto smiled. "Sasuke, you should know better than to think a little four year old girl isn't going to go around telling everyone that she met a man named Sauske Uchiha."

He closed the door behind him. Sauske smiled. To think that the great Sauske Uchiha had eluded so many ninja trying to capture him, yet the one time he was caught was because of a little girl.

_**TBC…**_

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Well there you go. Another chapter. by the way, i got a B on my math test so, it all worked out in the end. 

please review!


	5. Melting a Frozen Heart

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

_Sakura's thoughts_

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Here's another chapter for ya!

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The morning went by pretty quickly. Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Sofai, Hinata and Sauske now made their way through the forest. The trip would take about three days since they couldn't run because Sofai was unable to keep up. Kakashi lead the way, keeping his eyes glued to his book. Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Sofai stayed a little behind him, chatting. Sauske stayed in the back, not really wanting to be in the conversation. He didn't really know what had happened in the village since he left, so he wouldn't know what to say. He looked up when he heard Sakura speak.

"Sofai, it's dangerous here. I'd feel better if you held my hand so you won't get lost."

Sofai pouted, sticking her lower lip out. "I don't wanna! I'm old enough now!"

Sakura just smiled. "I know honey, but I just want to make sure you're safe."

"Do I have to hold your hand momma?" She asked, looking as innocent as she possibly could.

"No, just hold someone's hand so I won't get worried, ok?"

Sofai nodded and turned. She went directly to Sasuke and took his hand. Sakura's jaw clenched, as if waiting for his reaction. Sasuke only looked at Sofai. She smiled up at him, and he couldn't help but smile back. It was something about this little girl that allowed him completely relax his guard. He looked back up only to find Sakura staring at him with a look he had never seen before. It seemed to be a look of surprise.

_**Did she think I was going to hit her or something? It's just a little girl. **_

Sakura turned back around. Naruto and Hinata were still talking, but Sakura wasn't paying much attention. She was trying to focus on Sasuke and Sofai.

_It's weird. I thought he would tell her off, or yell, or something. I didn't expect him to smile. Has he really changed that much?_

Then, she heard Sofai starting to talk. Sakura tried to listen to the conversation without being to obvious. Sasuke, being a keen observer, tired to act as if he didn't notice.

"Are you okay Mr. Sasuke? You're awfully quiet and you're all alone in the back."

Sasuke could sense her eyes on him. "It's just that I like being alone sometimes."

Sofai nodded. "Me too, but it's only when I'm mad. Then momma comes to cheer me up and I go with my uncles and aunties so I won't be alone anymore."

"Uncles and aunties?" Sasuke asked.

_**I thought that Sakura was an only child.**_

Sofai nodded enthusiastically. "Momma said that they're not really my uncles or aunties, but that's what I like to call them."

Sasuke nodded. Sofai continued. "I have my Uncle Naruto and my Auntie Hinata, my Uncle Shikamaru and my Auntie Ino, my Uncle Neji and my Auntie Tenten and my Uncle Choji and Uncle Shino and Uncle Kiba. Momma said Uncle Kiba needs to settle down, but she never tells me what it means."

Sasuke only listened as Sofai told him all about her life in Konoha. Sakura seemed to relax a little now that she saw Sasuke wasn't going to do anything to her daughter. Sasuke was quiet while Sofai told him about her school, her friends, her house, and most of all her momma. While she was still talking, she started swinging their clasped hands. The corners of Sasuke's mouth turned into a slight smile. This girl was so carefree and happy. When he was her age, he was like that too. He only hoped that what happened to him will never happen to her.

Suddenly, a kunai landed in the middle of the group a few inches from where Sakura had just stepped. Everyone got into a battle stance and Sasuke pulled Sofai behind him, shielding her from any danger.

The air was tense. At first they thought they were being ambushed, but nothing was happening. Everything was completely still again. Just as everyone was about to start walking again, two ninja leapt from opposite trees. Naruto and Kakashi quickly attacked the one closest to them. Hinata and Sakura did the same for the remaining ninja.

"Sasuke! Take Sofai somewhere safe! We'll find you when we finish them! Quick!" Kakashi yelled, deflecting a kunai headed strait for his arm.

Sasuke nodded and quickly gathered Sofai in his arms. He started running down a path, activating sharingan to make sure there were no further threats ahead. Sofai was slightly whimpering her hands clenched into fists holding Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke found a small cave further down the path. He walked in and set Sofai down. Her knees were shaking and she sat on the floor, unable to stand up. Sofai pulled her knees to her chest and sat there, face buried between her knees. When she started shaking slightly, Sasuke figured it was still the effect of being scarred and him running so fast. Then he heard her slight cries.

Sasuke moved towards her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him with her big eyes, now red and watery. She stood up and hugged him. He was slightly taken aback. He patted her head slightly, unsure of what else to do.

"It's going to be okay. I promise."

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Sakura was practically frantic now. Once they had finished of the ninja, they started looking for Sasuke and Sofai. So far, they had no idea where the two were.

_What if they got caught by other ninja? What would I do without my Sofai? But Sasuke wouldn't go down without a fight, he's too proud for that. What if he just left her there? No, not even he's that heartless. At least, I hope he's not._

She was about to turn back when she felt the familiar chakra signature. She ran towards the signal, hoping she wasn't wrong. She kept running until she came across a clearing. There was a small cave off to the side. As she approached, she felt a kunai point at her neck.

"Don't move." Sasuke said, breathing the words into her ear.

Sakura shivered. "It's me Sasuke."

Sasuke turned her around to confirm it. It had gotten quite dark and he couldn't be sure if it was her or the enemy, so he just attacked. He put his kunai away and walked towards the cave with Sakura in tow. Sofai was curled up on the floor sleeping; Sasuke's jacket was draped over her small form.

"She fell asleep about a half hour ago." Sasuke said, standing aside so that Sakura could go to her daughter.

Sakura kneeled by Sofai making sure she was unharmed. Once she was satisfied, she moved to pick her up but stopped when she felt a sharp burn in her arm. She clutched it and stood back up.

"Sasuke, do you mind carrying her? I got stabbed in the arm by a kunai earlier and even though I was able to heal it, it still aches. I can't hold her up without risking her falling."

Sasuke only nodded in the semi-darkness. He went to Sofai and picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

_I can't believe he just did it without complaining. This is not the Sasuke I remember at all._

The walk back to the others was silent with only slight muttering from Sofai once in a while. They kept walking until they reached the others. Naruto and Hinata visibly relaxed when they saw them. Kakashi went on reading he book but you could see when he let out a deep relieved sigh. He lifted his gaze from the book and looked up at the group.

"We're not far from Konoha. If we keep moving right now we'll be there by daybreak. Is that okay with everyone?"

They all nodded. All they wanted to do was just get home. Kakashi turned his attention to Sasuke.

"Will you be okay carrying her or would you rather have one of us do it?" he asked, motioning to Sofai as he spoke.

"It's okay. You guys are more tired than I am and she doesn't weigh that much." Sasuke responded shifting Sofai slightly in his arms.

The group started off, making their way towards the Hidden Leaf Village. After more than an hour of walking, they entered a clearing in the forest. Sasuke looked up and felt warmth fill his heart. He gazed at the gate of the village, taking in the Leaf Village emblem adorning the frame of the door. He was home.

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I know the chapters are kind of short. Bear with me on this.

Please Review!


	6. Moment of Truth

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

_Sakura's thoughts_

* * *

As soon as they were out in the open Anbu guards surrounded Sasuke. Sasuke didn't really look disturbed, almost as if he expected this. The others knew this was standard procedure, so they kept looking ahead knowing what needed to be done. Sofai slowly woke up in Sasuke's arms and looked around her at the armed guards. She shrieked and buried her head in Sasuke's chest, small sobs escaping her. Sasuke looked down at Sofai and shifted her in his arms until she was looking at his eyes. Her eyes were starting to turn red and there were tear stains already down her cheeks. He only smiled and set her down. 

"Sofai, can you go with your mother for me?" He asked, looking her strait in the eyes.

Sofai's body was still shaking with sobs and she was out of breath, so she only shook her head.

"Sofai, you need to go with your mother now," Sasuke repeated slowly.

"I wanna go with you," she managed to say between sobs.

"No Sofai, you have to go with your mother now."

Hinata took a small step forward. "We'll see him in a little while okay Sofai? We have to go see the hokage right now anyway, and Sasuke will be there too."

Sofai looked towards Sasuke as if asking for reassurance. Sasuke slowly nodded and a small smile graced his features. Sofai slowly nodded back and quickly embraced the Uchiha. Sasuke was surprised at first, but once he got over the shock he hugged her back. When they let go, Sofai backed out of the circle and ran into Sakura's arms. Sakura was just shocked with what had just happened. Sofai had gotten so attached to Sasuke already, and they had only known each other for a couple of days. Whenever Sakura had tried to have relationships, Sofai always protested whoever she was dating. And now the man that broke her heart came back into her life and her daughter is getting along with him. Oh, the irony.

_Not only does she like him, I think he likes her too. I never thought Sasuke even had a heart, and now it turns out he likes children. I would have never guessed that deep down he could actually feel affection for someone._

He took one last look at the group that brought him back, noticing Sakura's confused look. The Anbu quickly grabbed the Uchiha and went back into the village.

--------------------------

There were many stares on the streets on the way to the hokage's tower. Some people that he had known in the village when he was younger all looked at him as if he was filth. He knew he deserved it after what he had done, but back then it was the only thing he could do. Orochimaru was only one that was able to teach him to expand his powers to levels he never knew. It was all to take down Itachi, but now he knew that had been already taken care of. Even if his role as an avenger was over, he still felt that this newfound strength helped, even if he had to betray the village to get it. Now he had killed Orochimaru, a feat that even the hokage had failed to do. All he could do now was hope he was forgiven, so he would be able to use this newfound strength to help out his village.

When the two Anbu guards with him came to a halt, Sasuke was pulled from his ponderings. One opened the door and the other pushed him in. All the other Anbu guards on duty in the tower stared at him as he made his way by. When they finally arrived at the door leading up to the hokage's office, one of the guards knocked loudly. The door opened and they lead Sasuke inside.

_**Moment of truth.**_

He was sat in the chair in front of the hokage. While she slowly sipped her sake and looked over paperwork, one of the guards coughed slightly to get her attention. She looked up and her eyes immediately widened when she saw Sasuke. He merely sat there and kept his eyes locked on hers.

"Well, if it isn't Sasuke Uchiha. What brings you here?" She said, her surprised eyes betraying her indifferent voice.

"Just thought I would come back for a visit," Sasuke replied, slightly smirking as he saw her eyes narrow.

"Don't be a smartass Uchiha. You know damn well that you were exiled the moment you decided to leave this village. With that said, you will immediately be executed." She said, voice never wavering as she said it.

Sasuke didn't make any facial response to this news. He merely looked forward, attention on the hokage. He slowly lifted his bag from his shoulders. He stood and opened the bag, sticking his hand inside. He slowly lifted his hand out of the bag and dropped Orochimaru's head ungracefully upon the desk of the hokage. Tsunade's serious demeanor faltered as she realized what had just landed on her desk. Astonished, she looked back up at Sasuke. His only response was to sit back down and rest his chin on his clasped hands, letting his bangs fall to his face, much like he used to do when he was younger.

"Consider this my formal apology to you and the village of Konaha for what I did." He said, piercing eyes never leaving her surprised brown ones.

The hokage finally got over her shock and smirked. "You brat."

There was a knock at her door and she motioned one of the Anbu guards to answer it. Team Kakashi came inside slightly startled to see Orochimaru's head staring up at them from the hokage's desk. Sasuke turned around in his chair and notice that Sofai was still with them. He quickly took Orochimaru's head off the table and shoved it back into the knapsack. This seemed to snap the attention of the ninja and they quickly came in and kneeled down before the hokage. Sofai instantly fixed her eyes on Sasuke and ran over to him.

"Mister Sasuke!" she yelled, hugging his leg.

Sasuke couldn't help the smile that surfaced. He slowly picked her up and placed her on his lap. "Hey kid, did you miss me?"

Sofai smiled and nodded her head quickly and repeatedly, making her black hair flail about. A deep chuckle erupted from Sasuke as he tried to make her stop before she hurt herself. While this was happening, all of the ninja in the room were watching in surprise. No one had ever seen this side of Sasuke before, nor did they think they ever heard him chuckle. This was a Kodak moment.

Sasuke noticed the quietness in the room and turned to look at all the ninja. Team Kakashi were still kneeled down in front of the hokage, but everyone's attention was focused on him and Sofai.

_**Great. This kid is making me go soft. But seriously, you'd think from their expressions I've done something bad. You'd think they'd want me to yell at her or something. **_

Noticing that they were staring like gaping idiots, the ninja quickly composed themselves and looked back up at the hokage.

"All of you stand at attention. This concerns all of you, since Sasuke was once a team member of yours. His treason of the village has been forgiven, but tradition won't let him go without punishment," she said, the seriousness in her voice penitrating the room. "As of now you are strictly on probation. In order to make sure that you are no longer in communication with anyone from the Sound Village, we will place you under the watchful eye of a trusted shinobi. I would prefer it to be someone of this team, considering your history together. Now I understand that Naruto cannot because of his wife's pregnancy." She said, indicating Naruto and Hinata, who was standing a little behind Team Kakashi.

_**No way. The dobe actually figured out that she liked him and asked her out. Wait, he married her. Whoa, can't say I saw that one coming. Not only that, but she's pregnant. Never thought the dobe had it in him.**_

Sasuke was snapped out of his thoughts when the hokage started speaking again. "I also know that Kakashi can't because he is starting to train a new team starting the new school year."

_**Oh Holy Jesus. That only leaves one option. **_

"Sakura, I'm afraid Sasuke will be your responsibility." Tsunade said, making it quite clear with the tone of her voice that if Sakura tried to protest, she wouldn't win.

Sakura had no choice but to agree.

_Oh kami, this is not fair. Why is the world so cruel? Why do I have to be stuck babysitting the Uchiha? I still haven't forgotten that he broke my heart into a million little pieces. Or that he left me when I confessed my undying love to him. It's not fair that after all these years of me finally thinking I got over him, he comes back. It's not fair that I still have feelings for him. It's not fair that he gets along with my daughter so well. It is just not fair. This is one cruel, sick joke from the heavens. _

Tsunade saw the look behind her apprentice's eyes; confusion, distress, anger, depression, and most of all anguish. She didn't like seeing Sakura this way. She was like a daughter for her. Sadly, she had given this thought and she saw no other way. Tsunade remembered the days after the young Uchiha had left. To see Sakura so broken inside make her want to go out and wring Sasuke's neck herself. When he left, the spark that Sakura had, the one that always made her face light up with happiness and the room feel cheerful was gone. It didn't return until the birth of Sofai. But Tsunade was no fool. She knew that no matter what Sakura told the world or what brave face she put on, she was still in love with Sasuke.

Tsunade knew that it may be a huge mistake to put them together again, but at least this way Sakura can either get another chance with Sasuke. If that chance doesn't come, at least she'll be able to get closure for something that has been clouding her heart for years.

Tsunade cleared her throat and got Sakura and Sasuke's attentions once more. "Since your house is too small Sakura, you and Sofai will be moving into the Uchiha mansion. And I don't want to hear any whining or bullsh…I mean crap from you Uchiha." She said, momentarily forgetting there was a child in the room.

Sasuke only nodded. He slowly got to his feet, placing Sofai on the chair where he had been sitting. He slowly kneeled down in front of the hokage to show his respect.

"Of course Lady Tsunade," he said.

"You should start moving in immediately. At least get your clothes and personal items in by today, so Sofai will be able to have all of her school things for tomorrow."

Sakura and Sasuke both nodded.

"Sakura, if anything happens you have my full permission to straiten him out. You are, after all, one of my best Anbu guards. I'm sure the Uchiha should be no problem for you." Tsunade said, smirking.

Sakura only smirked back. Sasuke looked between the two women, feeling as though he wasn't being told something. Tsunade quickly regained her serious expression.

"That will be all. Dismissed."

"Hai" they all said, and were escorted out of the room by Shizune.

When they all left, Shizune closed the door and turned towards the hokage.

"Are you really gonna leave him alone with Sakura after what he did to her?" She asked, her nervousness penetrating her voice.

Tsunade turned to look at the view from her window. "He's changed."

"How do you know that? He's only been here for a couple of hours. For all we know, he could be the same asshole that broke her heart until it was fine dust."

Tsunade only shook her head. "Didn't you see the way he interacted with Sofai? There was something in his eyes that wasn't here before he left. And now that Itachi is gone, there's nothing to keep him from showing his emotions. That was obvious by the way he was with Sakura's daughter. I don't think anyone's heard him laugh since before the massacre. Don't you see Shizune?"

"Uh…What exactly am I supposed to be seeing?"

"Without the risk of anyone close to him getting killed by his brother, he is finally letting himself feel emotions. Now that he is no longer an avenger, he is finally free."

-----------------------

Sasuke sat patiently in Sakura's living room while she and Sofai packed their things. He looked around slowly, noticing all the badly drawn and colored pictures that littered the refrigerator. In the corner there were piles of toys everywhere, from dolls to a plastic kunai. It was not the cleanest of homes, or the largest, but it was cozy and it just had the feeling of home. He was not sure if the mansion would be to their liking. He had been the only person that had lived there after the massacre, but he had always cleaned to the best of his abilities.

_**I just thought of something. Only I know where the key to the house is hidden, so there will be years of grime and dust waiting for me. Just bloody perfect. Not to mention all the food that was there has probably all gone bad. I'm going to have to go grocery shopping tomorrow. And I'm going to go on a cleaning spree. I can't let my childhood home, the home my clan had once taken pride in, be left in the dust. **_

While thinking about all that he would have to do tomorrow, Sakura and Sofai had appeared. Each was holding a rucksack and a duffle bag. Sasuke, realizing that someone was watching him, looked up at them. Sakura nodded and Sasuke got up.

"Do you need any help?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head. "We're fine thanks."

Sasuke walked ahead and opened the door for them. They slowly made the journey to the mansion of the Uchiha clan.

As they drew closer to the house, Sasuke was thinking of where they would sleep for the night.

"Do you and Sofai usually sleep in one room?" He asked, cutting into the silence with his deep voice.

"Not anymore. She got her own room when she was three." Replied Sakura, smiling at a memory unknown to Sasuke.

When they finally saw the old house looming in the distance, Sasuke felt a strange emotion overcome him. It had been so long since he had been home, and to see it again now that Itachi was gone made it seem as if he hadn't seen it in decades. Almost as if with Itachi gone, he would be able to look at the house without feeling a hole in his pride for being unable to stop the one that cause all of the bloodshed inside its walls. His eyes felt moist for a moment.

**_Am I crying? I haven't cried since the day Itachi told me to hate him. The night he decided to kill our entire family to prove he could._**

Suddenly, a warm hand touched his shoulder. He looked to his left to find Sakura looking at him intently. She smiled, almost as if to say it was okay. Sasuke slowly smiled back. He made his way up to the front door and started looking around. After a couple of moments, he found what he was looking for. There was a small hole in the wooden frame of the door. He slowly inserted his index finger and hooked it in. When he pulled out, a small compartment slid out with it revealing a small silver key. Sasuke smirked.

**_It seems no one did find it. All that time I was away I had been worried for nothing._**

He slowly inserted the key into the lock and opened the door. The hot and dusk filled air of the abandoned home filled his nostrils. He slowly walked in, looking around to find a layer of dust on everything. He heard footsteps behind him and motioned for them to follow him up the stairs. After turning through a few hallways, he led them to the entrance of a room. He opened the door and walked in.

"Sofai can sleep in here," he said. He motioned to the door on the right wall of the room. "That door leads to another room. You can have that one Sakura. That way, if anything happens you can come in here quickly."

Sakura nodded. "Thank you. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Who did these rooms belong to before?" She asked, curious to know.

Sasuke visibly stiffened. "This room used to belong to me. The other belonged to my parents."

Sakura could see the pain that momentarily surfaced in his eyes.

"The bathroom is right across the hall and my bedroom is down the hall if you need anything," he said quickly changing the subject.

Sofai had been silent the whole time. She was tired and just wanted to rest. When Sasuke finished, she put her things down, went strait to the side of the bed, and slid in. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

"Sofai! That is very rude!" Sakura yelled.

Sasuke smirked. "Don't worry about it Sakura, she was just tired. I'm guessing you might be tired too. You should go get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

Sakura blushed lightly at the softness of his voice. Her heart started beating faster for no reason and her emerald eyes couldn't tear from his onyx ones. Finally, she was able to pull herself away from his stare.

"Goodnight then Sasuke."

"Goodnight Sakura."

They would need all the rest they could get, because tomorrow they would have to work on cleaning the large house. It would be a long day.

_**TBC…**_

* * *

Okay, this time i took forever updating the story. I've already gotten people angry at me for not updating this and my other story. 

So, sorry for that but here's another chapter and I hope you've liked it. I already know most of what the next chapter is going to have and i'm kind of excited to write it. I just have to get my thoughts in order and i should have this story done in to time

Please Review!! Tell me what you think of the story so far. Your opinions matter to me (after all, you're the ones reading the story)


	7. Of Truths and Soups

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

_Sakura's thoughts_

I know that I'm not going into character with Sasuke at all in the beginning, but the reasons will become clear as you continue to read. And I know some readers have a problem with cursing in my stories. I apologize, but that's just the way I write. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it.

* * *

Sakura woke up from a deep sleep. She yawned lightly and stretched her arms out. A slow smile spread across her face. She hadn't slept like that in years. She slowly turned to look at the clock. 7:30! Her smile turned into a panicked grimace. Sofai had to be at the academy at 8 o'clock sharp! She quickly got up and started running around the room, trying to get everything in order.

_We're gonna be late! I can't believe I overslept that much, but God that bed was so comfortable. I'll have to ask Sasuke where he got it, but right now I need to get Sofai to school. I just need to get her ready and ---SHIT! I forgot I'm supposed to keep an eye on Sasuke at all times. He's gonna have to come with me then. That means I have to wake him up._

Sakura opened the door that connected her room to Sofai's room and walked in. She opened the curtains, letting the sunlight enter the room, and shook Sofai awake.

"Wake up sweetie. It's time to get ready for school."

Sofai slowly opened her eyes and yawned. As she started rubbing her eyes, Sakura quickly grabbed what she would be wearing to school and shoved it into her arms.

"Sofai go to the bathroom and get dressed. I want you downstairs in 10 minutes with your bed made and teeth brushed, ok?"

Sofai only nodded and climbed off the bed. She held her clothes closely and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Sakura exited the small room and made her way down the hall to Sasuke's room. Once outside, she slowly knocked on the door.

No response.

She knocked again, this time with more force.

No response again.

She knocked a third time.

A muffled "Go away" was heard through the door.

Sakura banged on the door until it suddenly opened, revealing an irritated Uchiha.

"What?!? It's 7 in the morning!"

Sakura only stared for a few moments.

_It seems as if Sasuke isn't a morning person. It also seems as if he sleeps without a shirt._

Remembering why she was there, Sakura snapped out of her musings and scowled at the Uchiha.

"I have to drop my daughter off at school. You're not allowed to stay at home alone, so you must come. We'll go for groceries when she's in school. I don't really give a shit what you say right now, but if you make my daughter lake so help you God I will kill you do you understand me?"

Sasuke was stunned.

_**I can't believe she cursed! I can't believe she yelled at me!**_

Sakura just turned around and went back down the hall to get ready. She opened the door and looked back down the hall to see that Sasuke was still in the exact same position.

"And put a shirt on!"

With that, she closed the door and sat down on her bed, unable to breathe properly.

_I just yelled at Sasuke. I just YELLED at SASUKE. What is going on with me? I would have never done that before. And he didn't do anything to stop me. He didn't say anything at all actually. He just stood there and let me yell at him. I thought he would have interrupted me or something, but he didn't say a word._

Sakura shook out her thoughts and got ready. There was no way she was going to waste precious time in her thoughts when it meant her daughter would be late to school. She quickly got dressed and went out into the hallway. Sofai was already going down the stairs with her bag when Sakura got to the top of the stairs. Looking down, she saw Sasuke already dressed and sitting patiently on the couch. As Sakura walked down the stairs, Sofai sat down next to Sasuke. When Sakura got on the landing, she went strait to the kitchen to find something edible for Sofai to have for breakfast. She opened the fridge and quickly closed it again. It smelled horribly!

_Oh well, what did I expect? Nobody's lived here since Sasuke left. No one even knew how to open the damn door!_

"We should probably get going if you don't want her to be late."

Sakura quickly turned around and saw Sasuke standing up.

"Come on, I know a shortcut. And there's an apple tree on the way. She could just get one for breakfast."

Without waiting for a response, Sasuke strode to the door and went out. Sofai followed behind, still rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes. Sakura just rolled her eyes and followed. Sasuke led them past empty house after house. He stopped in front of one and opened the door that led to the backyard. Less than a minute later, he came back with three large red apples. He tossed one to Sakura, gave the other to Sofai, and took a bite out of his own. He continued walking, Sakura and Sofai following behind, until they reached a brick wall.

"Sasuke? Didn't you say we were taking a shortcut?"

"This is a shortcut," He said putting his hand against the brick wall. He pushed one of the bricks in and door swung out to their left.

"Since the Uchiha's used to be part of the police force, they needed ways to get from here to the other side of the village quickly. My father always told me they were for emergencies, but I always used them whenever I was running late to school."

He walked through the door, not seeing the look of astonishment on Sakura's face. Sofai carefully climbed in afterwards. Sakura quickly followed, not wanting to get left behind. It was really just a tunnel. Sasuke activated sharingan so he would be able to see where he was going. After about a minute of walking, the tunnel started slanting up. When they stopped, there were stairs on the side of the tunnel they needed to climb. Sakura had started climbing when Sasuke removed the lid that was on top of the staircase. He helped Sofai out, and then helped Sakura out. When they were out, he quickly replaced the lid of the hidden tunnel. Sakura looked around and couldn't believe it. They were less than a block away from the academy!

Sasuke only took Sofai's hand and started walking across the street, heading in the direction of the school. By the time Sakura got there, Sofai was already saying goodbye to Sasuke as the school bell rung. Sasuke turned back and walked towards Sakura.

"You know, you seem pretty surprised about something."

Sakura looked up at him, seeing him looking at her curiously. "I just never thought you would take Sofai to school as if you did this all the time."

Sasuke only shrugged. "I've taken kids to school before, when I was training with Orochimaru."

Sakura was about to ask a question when Sasuke interrupted. "I'll answer all your questions in a bit. Maybe it would be best if we went grocery shopping first, seeing as nothing in my home is edible."

Sakura only nodded and led the way to the supermarket.

--------------------------------

It was a good thing Sasuke had kept a little stash of money hidden in his home in case he ever returned. They just about bought out half of the store. As strong as both of the shinobi were, they had some difficulty carrying all the bags back to the Uchiha manor. Once or twice they even had to stop to take a rest. When they finally got back to the house, they just dropped the dozens of bags on the kitchen floor and went to take a seat on the sofa. After a while of resting, Sasuke got up to clean out his fridge. The odor was dreadful, but someone had to do it. As he started taking out all of the rotting food, Sakura started throwing away cans that had expired from his shelves.

While they were working, Sakura broke the silence. "So, when exactly did you work with kids in Sound?"

Sasuke sighed. "It's a pretty long story."

Sakura looked around the kitchen, then all the other rooms in his first floor. "I think we have time."

Sasuke smirked as he continued to clean. "Fine."

"When I went to Sound, I originally lived in a small village outside the gates of Sound--"

"Why?" Sakura had paused in her cleaning.

"I don't really know. Orochimaru never told me, he just said that I would be living there for a while."

"He never told you wh—"

"Sakura, if you keep interrupting I'll never finish."

"Sorry. Please continue."

"Like I was saying, I lived in a small village by the name of Otoph. I had only lived there for a short time, but in that time the villagers had grown fond of me. I protected them from thieves and thugs, and they treated me with respect. Once every two weeks, they would all go on hunting trips to replenish their meat supplies. During that time, I would take care of all the young ones of the village. Only once every week did I leave the village to go train with Orochimaru. The rest of the time I trained alone or helped out the villagers with their work. During one of the times I left the village, it was plundered. The thieves stole everything and left no survivors. When I returned, the village was burned to the ground. I tried to find if any had escaped and hidden in the woods, but my sharingan couldn't detect anyone. About a year later I found the criminals who had killed the village. They were about to strike another village, but I couldn't let that happen again. I had to kill them to make sure it would never happen again."

Sasuke stopped scrubbing the refrigerator and was staring off into space, as if revisiting an old memory. Sakura had stopped her cleaning halfway through the story and was watching him intently. There was great pain just beneath his eyes.

"That had been the first time I ever killed anyone. For weeks after that, I would have nightmares. Their screams would invade my dreams, giving me no time for rest. I was only a thirteen year old boy after all. Kids my age hadn't really seen murder, let alone committed it. Sadly for me, I had seen whole massacres twice already."

He was still staring off into space. He suddenly snapped out of it and a small smile graced his lips.

"Thankfully, that's all in the past now."

Although he was smiling, Sakura couldn't be fooled. She could still see the pain lurking behind his eyes.

"I have a question Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at her. "What is it?" He said tying up the garbage bag into which he threw all the rotted food and expired cans.

"Why did you never show emotion when we were younger?"

Sasuke let out a long sigh. He started putting away the groceries they had just bought. "I'll be honest with you. I was afraid."

Sakura started to help him put things away. "Afraid? Afraid of what?"

Sasuke took a deep breath. "When I was younger, my brother killed everyone that was important to me. As I grew up, I always held onto the fear that one day he would return and the same thing would happen. The only emotion I would ever let myself feel was hatred. Hatred for the brother that destroyed my family."

Sakura only nodded and continued with her task. They continued to work in silence as the last of the groceries were put away.

_And slowly the mystery of the Uchiha is revealed._

--------------------------------

When they were done cleaning the kitchen Sakura got to work on making lunch. Sofai would be home soon and she was usually hungry. Sasuke was sitting in the dining room, observing Sakura taking out ingredients.

"Are you sure you know how to cook?"

She turned to him with an angry glare. "What was that Uchiha?"

Sasuke smirked. She didn't scare him. "I asked if you were sure you knew how to cook."

Sakura turned back around with an angry huff. "For your information, I've become a great cook over the years. Ever since Ino got married, I've lived by myself. I've become quite good at making meals for myself."

Sasuke only nodded, and then suddenly stopped. "Ino's married?"

Sakura smiled. "I keep forgetting you weren't here. Yes, she's married."

"Who was the poor soul that married her?"

"Charming. For your information, it was Shikamaru."

Sasuke couldn't hide his surprise. "Shikamaru? The lazy Nara?"

"The one and only."

"Well, I can't say I saw that one coming. Who else got married?"

Sakura paused in chopping vegetables and turned to him. "Well, there was Naruto and Hinata, Ino and Shikamaru, and Tenten and Neji."

"That's a lot of marriages. Do they have kids?"

"Which ones?"

"Any of them."

"Well, Hinata recently got pregnant. As for the others, they don't want to have kids right now because they want to focus on being shinobi for a while. Ino and Tenten recently made ANBU ranks, so they don't want to be sent away on maternity league so early in."

Sasuke nodded.

Suddenly the door flung open and Sofai came running in, tears streaming down her face. Sasuke, alarmed by her tears, quickly picked her up and checked for any signs of bleeding or injury. Sakura flew out of the kitchen and next to Sasuke, also checking for signs of injury. Once they were both satisfied, Sasuke slowly put Sofai down.

"Sofai! You were supposed to wait for me to pick you up at school! What happened?"

Sofai's sobs were slowly dying. "The other kids as school were making fun of me again."

Sakura looked angry. "What were those brats saying this time?"

Sofai slowly wiped away the tears from her eyes. "They were making fun of me because they said I didn't have a dad."

Sasuke held Sofai close as she started to cry again. He stole a glance at Sakura who was white with either shock or rage, he couldn't tell. He slowly started rocking Sofai, telling her it was okay. Sakura, once assured that her daughter was being taken care of, turned back to the kitchen and finished making her soup. When she was done, she served up three plates and called them to the dining room. Sasuke, still carrying Sofai, walked in and put her down into a chair. He seated himself on the chair next to her and began to silently sip his soup.

When Sakura went back into the kitchen to refill the bowls, Sofai turned to Sasuke.

"Mister Sasuke, do you have any daughters?"

Sakura once again entered and place the bowls down. She sat and continued to eat. Sasuke took no notice of the bowl in front of him. He was completely thrown off by Sofai's question.

"No Sofai, I don't have any daughters. Why do you ask?"

Sakura's spoon stopped halfway to her mouth as she looked between Sofai and Sasuke.

"Well, I don't have a dad and you don't have a daughter. I was wondering, do you want to be my dad?"

Sakura only stared at Sofai.

_Please tell me I imagined that. Tell me she didn't just say that out loud. _

Sasuke looked equally shocked. Sakura's daughter just asked him to be her father. He quickly composed himself and nodded slightly.

"Sure Sofai. I'll be your father."

Sakura was sure her jaw was touching the floor. He said yes! Sofai smiled so widely, you could practically see her molars. She immediately jumped off the chair and ran to the door.

As she was opening the front door Sakura yelled, "Sofai! Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to tell Jenny that I have a dad too!"

The front door shut and small footsteps could be heard retreating from the house. Sakura turned around to find Sasuke sipping his soup as if this were an everyday occurrence.

"Why the hell did you do that? You do know that by tomorrow the whole village is going to know!"

Sasuke stopped eating and looked at Sakura. She was angry and it was obvious she was using all her will power to not beat the living crap out of him.

"I didn't do it for the village. I did it for Sofai."

Sakura could practically feel the vein in her head popping out. "What do you mean you did it for Sofai?!?"

Sasuke slowly pushed his bowl away and clasped his hands together in front of him. "I remember what it was like growing up without parents. Although it was never my fault they were gone, kids tormented me daily. That's really why I never spoke during school. I remember all the pain I went through, and I don't want her to suffer the same."

"She has me! She doesn't need a father!"

"Obviously that's not what she believes. I know that you did a great job raising her, as I can plainly see when I talk to her. In the mind of a kid, a normal family has a mother and a father. That's the image she grew up with. I'm not saying anything against you, because I know it's not your fault. Some kids just need a male figure in their lives. I won't preach to you about kids because I've never had any, but I was a kid once. You just want a family. Even if I'm not her biological father, if she thinks of me as a father figure she'll have that reassurance in her mind."

Sakura was just looking at him. She didn't like it because she knew he was right. Damn him for making sense! She sighed. There was nothing she could do about it now.

Sasuke got up and started picking up the table. She started to get up to help, but was stopped by Sasuke.

"You look tired. Go get some rest. I'll clean up and make sure that Sofai goes to bed on time."

Sakura just smiled thankfully and trudged up the stairs. Today had been one of the longest days of her life. She felt physically and mentally exhausted. Just when she thought she had Sasuke figured out, she gets psyched out again.

_I used to think I was really smart. Even I can't really understand what's up with this Uchiha. He used to be a total ass. Now, he's caring, thoughtful, and unselfish. I guess it goes back to what he said earlier. When his brother was alive, he forced himself to only feel hatred. Now that his brother's dead, he's able to feel emotions. I guess this'll take some getting used to._

With that said she put on her nightgown and went to bed. Thank Kami tomorrow was Saturday or her mind might've exploded. She could only imagine what the gossip around Konoha would be like tomorrow.

_**TBC…**_

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Touching moment, don't cha think? And for people who keep PMing me about who the father is, you'll have to wait and find out like everyone else. Until next time!

Please review!


	8. Revelations

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

_Sakura's thoughts_

This time I really did take a long time to update and I'm sorry it's just that it was track season and then homework was a priority and it's been finals week so I've had my hands pretty much full for the last couple of months.

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_Why does everyone keep staring at us? This is all HIS fault. If he hadn't had told Sofai that he would be her dad these stupid rumors wouldn't be spreading around the village. I swear if one more person asks if we're going to get married they'll regret it._

"Momma?"

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts by Sofai. She was holding something behind her back. Sakura stopped the shopping cart and smiled softly at her daughter.

"Yes Sofai, what is it?"

Sofai looked up at her. "Can we get some of these?"

Sofai slowly brought the box of cookies out from behind her back.

"Sorry honey but right now we're just buying what we're gonna need for the week. I'll buy some for you tomorrow okay? Go put them back love."

Sofai, with the look of defeat upon her face, slowly trudged back to the shelf. Sakura kept walking down the isle. While looking at the different brands of noodles she heard a sudden clatter inside the cart. She turned to see Sasuke reading the brand of a dumpling carton. Sakura looked inside the cart to see what Sasuke had put in. Bread, eggs, milk, sugar, pancake mix, and….cookies? Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"Cookies?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.

Sasuke only looked back at her, refusing to be intimidated.

"They're my favorite."

Sakura slowly turned back. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasuke wink at Sofai. Sofai tried, and failed miserably, not to giggle. As much as she tried to resist, Sakura could also feel a smile tugging at the edges of her lips. As much as she disliked Sasuke for what he started, she couldn't help the warm feeling she'd get when Sofai was so happy around him.

When they finished shopping and everything was paid for, they headed home. They always took the shortcut Sasuke had shown them when they went shopping because of the amount of things they usually bought.

In the first week Sakura was there she and Sasuke managed to clean the entire first floor of the mansion. Now they had to go buy more cleaning products because they still needed the second floor. Everyday while Sofai was at school Sakura and Sasuke would start cleaning. Then every afternoon when Sofai was back from school Naruto would come over to keep an eye on Sasuke while Sakura went to work. Sofai would do her homework outside while watching Naruto and Sasuke train. That had become their routine.

This week, however, that routine got changed when Sakura was asked to cover for a fellow nurse at the hospital. Instead of just working the afternoon shift, today she would also be working the night shift until morning. As soon as they put away all the groceries Sakura was to go work and Naruto would come to keep an eye on Sasuke.

"Sasuke I'm asking you to please not say anymore profanities in front of Sofai. Last time when I was tucking her in she told me the string of choice words you and Naruto chose every time one of you got the upper hand."

Sasuke chuckled slightly at the memory and looked at Sakura. He flinched slightly when he saw the serious expression in her eyes.

"Yes mommy I promise to behave. Can I go out and play now?" He asked, a smirk dancing across his lips.

Sakura grabbed her purse and smacked him in the back of his head on her way out.

"Don't be a smart ass."

Sasuke only smirked wider as she walked out. Sakura was greeting Naruto while saying goodbye to Sofai. She hugged her daughter one last time and started making her way to the hospital. Sasuke walked around behind Sofai and started waving bye with her.

"Don't worry mom! We'll take care!" He yelled out, the sarcasm in his voice almost tangible.

Sofai turned to him and hit him in the knee, the highest point she could accurately punch.

"Don't be a smart ass daddy!"

When Sakura heard that she turned and stared wide eyed at Sofai. Sasuke was staring at the little girl in shock, his mouth slightly opened. Naruto was just looking back and forth between the three people, laughter shaking him. Sakura's eyes met Sasuke's stunned ones and it was her turn to smirk.

"I'm trusting you to keep your daddy in line okay Sofai?" She said, the obvious pleasure at Sasuke's shock glinting in her eyes.

Sofai saluted her like a good little ninja and turned to glare at Sasuke with her hands on her hips. Sasuke looked down at Sofai and back up at Sakura. He saw Sakura shaking with laughter and looked back down at Sofai. Naruto was unable to breathe at this point, knees bent with his head between gasping for air. Sasuke only shook his head and turned back to see Sakura continue walking, her small frame still shaking with laughter.

_**This is like déjà vu. Like mother like daughter I guess. I remember when Sakura used to glare at me like that at the academy.**_

An involuntary shudder passed through him as he remembered. As much as he hated to admit it, Sakura used to frequently scare him when she was angry. Unlike Naruto, however, he never let it show lest she discover this and use it against him.

"Okay time to go back into the house Sofai. I believe your teacher left you some homework so you better get going." Naruto said, finally able to breathe properly again.

Sofai nodded and took her hands off her hips, scowl still not leaving her face. She grabbed Sasuke's hand and started trying to pull him back into the house with her. Sasuke only stared at her futile attempts to move him and looked back to Naruto who only shrugged at her behavior. She turned and took hold of his hand with both of hers, digging the heels of her shoes into the ground trying to budge him. He still only looked at her with confusion and amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Sofai, what are you doing?" He asked after a few more moments.

Sofai stopped pulling and looked up at him, her cheeks flushed with the effort. "Momma said that I have to take care of you so you're coming with me mister." Once she said the words she attempted pulling him again.

Sasuke bent down at Sofai's side. "Why don't you bring your homework out here and you can do it on the porch while I and your Uncle Naruto train? Is that okay?"

She slowly let go of his hand in defeat and nodded. She quickly ran inside to gather her things. Sasuke slowly shook his head and chuckled. He turned to Naruto who looked smug. Sasuke immediately lost his smile and started glaring at Naruto.

"Why are you so smug?" He asked.

Naruto shrugged putting his hands into his pockets. "Oh nothing really. Just remembering the stupid little emo boy that was on Team 7 with me and realizing now that you did exactly what you swore you would never do."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "And what would that be?"

Naruto smiled. "Get emotionally attached to someone."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I thought we all understood this by now."

"Understood what?"

Sasuke took a deep breath and let it out. "It's all because Itachi is gone. Now I'm allowed to get attached to people because there's not some crazy Uchiha with sharingan running around trying to kill them."

"Oh I already knew that part."

"Then why are you asking?" Sasuke questioned, getting suspicious.

Naruto looked at him, his expression coy. "You're in love."

"Well duh."

Naruto looked shocked. "You just admit it that easily? Here I thought I would have to keep bugging you for days to admit it."

"Well Sofai is a good kid. It's hard not to fall in love with her…"

"No! Not Sofai! You're falling in love with Sakura you teme."

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a few moments like if he had just sprouted a new head. "What are you babbling on about now dobe?"

"Don't try to deny it Uchiha. I saw the look in your eyes when you guys were at the door. I'm not stupid."

"That's what you say" Sasuke mumbled under his breath.

A sudden crunching caught their attention. Sofai had already spread out her blanket in the grass with her papers spread around her. Currently her attention was on Sasuke and Naruto while she was happily munching on carrot sticks.

"We'll continue this later." Naruto said to Sasuke not allowing him to escape the discussion.

"Fine. Just shut up and take your stance."

Sasuke took his stance as did Naruto. At once they started fighting.

--

Every time she walked across the room or hall she got paranoid. All day she had been walking into rooms where people suddenly stopped talking. That, most likely than not, meant that she had been the subject of discussion. And of course they were all talking about the same thing. The last Uchiha had come back and taken Sakura's daughter as his own. People were starting to suspect that he was the biological father.

_If only they knew…_

Sakura repressed the thoughts from her head and continued her rounds. She entered the room of her next patient which was her good friend Hinata.

"Hey Hinata. How are you doing?"

Hinata smiled from the bed. "Oh I'm fine. Yesterday I started feeling a little queasy and I made the mistake of telling Naruto about it. Of course he freaked out and over reacted. I only came to his checkup for his nerves. This whole baby thing has got him more wired than I've ever seen him."

Sakura nodded while listening to Hinata's heartbeat. "Well you know Naruto. He's already over protective of you because you're his wife and now that you're carrying his child I'm surprised he even lets you out of bed."

Hinata started laughing. "Well you can't really blame him either. I'm the only family he has and this baby," she started rubbing her hand on her stomach, "will be a new addition to that family."

Sakura smiled. "I can understand that. After my parents got killed I felt what Naruto had felt all those years. I had my friends and Tsunade who was always like a mother to me, but I still had that hole in my heart yearning for my family. When I got pregnant it was like the hole had been healed and my heart was filled once again."

Hinata smiled smugly. "Does it feel that way now?"

Sakura was snapped out of her dreamy expression. "What do you mean?"

Hinata kept on smiling. "You know exactly what I mean Sakura. After all, now your family is complete."

Sakura finally understood what Hinata was talking about and immediately started blushing.

"As if Hinata! I got over him years ago."

"Mhm. Whatever you say Sakura." Hinata's smug smile grew more when she saw just how red and flustered Sakura was.

"Really Hinata, you've got it all wrong. I don't like Sasuke anymore." Sakura was pretty sure that at this point her face had invented a new shade of red.

"Sakura don't lie to me and don't lie to yourself. I've seen you steadily become brighter this week that you've lived with him. Naruto also sees how content you are when you're around him, even when you're bickering."

Sakura was completely speechless.

_I don't love Sasuke….right? I can't love him again. Not after he broke my heart so many times over._

Hinata smiled like the bird that caught the canary at Sakura's speechlessness.

"Well, keep denying it Sakura. When you finally admit it you can always come to me and talk."

Hinata got up from the bed and made her way out of the room. Sakura was still in deep thought over the situation. After all the times Sasuke mangled her heart when they were younger she still loved him then. When they were younger Sasuke could do no wrong in her eyes. When he left with Orochimaru there was a pain in her heart unlike any pain she had ever felt. Speaking from experience, she could say that not even child birth hurt so much as the day when Sasuke left her on that bench. Through the years her heart slowly healed but no matter how much time elapsed she would always feel a stinging pain whenever she so much as heard his name.

She would pretend to act normal in front of everyone. She became Tsunade's apprentice and put all her time and effort into training. All that time she trained in case she ever ran into Sasuke.

_It was always for him, always because of him. The only reason I'm strong now is because I trained so hard then. Trained so that if I ever ran into him I could show him that I was not weak. To show him that I was strong, that if he had taken me I could have helped._

At this thought Sakura's knees suddenly became weak. She sat in one of the chairs and buried her head in her hands. All that time she had been telling everyone and herself that she trained so hard so that she would be helpful for the village. All this time that was a lie. She hadn't been doing it for the village or even for herself. She had been doing it for him.

_That doesn't prove anything. That just means I wanted to prove myself to him…to prove to him that I was good enough for him._

Sakura's head snapped up. Her eyes were wide with shock.

_I was in the deepest form of denial. It had all been for him. I had never stopped loving him, no matter what I told myself. Damn Hinata! Why couldn't you have just let me live without making myself realize this!?_

Sakura suddenly stood up.

_I have to act professional. I'm still at work and I need to finish my rounds. I'll deal with my personal life when I get off in the morning._

With that Sakura stood up, wiped the tears that had brimmed over, straitened her clothes and walked out of the room with her head held high. She sighed when the routine of stopping conversations continued when she walked by.

_This day just keeps getting better and better._

_**TBC…**_

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7 pages baby!!

I have plans to make the next chapter already. It's all in my head, all I have to do is type it. I'll probably wrap this up in the next couple of chapters but trust me no one will guess the ending. I though of it one day in health where most of my daydreaming goes one and it's brilliant if I do say so myself. I think the readers of this story will be pleased with it.

Please review!


	9. Family Portrait

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

Right after I posted the last chapter I knew exactly what I was going to put in this chapter. Keep in mind this is still the same day. Sakura's still working.

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Sasuke took a seat on the porch watching Naruto help Sofai with her homework. The whole time they were sparing Naruto's words kept repeating in his mind.

_**I'm not in love with Sakura, am I? It's impossible. She used to annoy me so much when she would claim that she loved me. Then that day I left the village she tried to follow me. I made her pass out so that she wouldn't come along.**_

Sasuke's eyes widened in realization.

_**I did it so nothing would happen to her, so that she wouldn't get hurt. **_

"Daddy!"

Sasuke was shaken out of his thoughts and was met with the sight of Sofai shaking his leg.

"Yes Sofai? What is it?"

Sofai continued to shake his leg excitedly, her eyes wide and her grin going from ear to ear. "Auntie Hinata is here daddy!"

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto walking up to the porch while carrying Hinata bridal style.

"Honey I told you I'm fine to walk. I just went to the hospital and they said that everything was fine honestly."

Naruto only shook his head and placed his wife into the seat next to Sasuke. Sasuke's bit his tongue trying to hold back all his laughter at Naruto's ridiculousness.

"I just want to make sure you and the baby are going to be okay. I mean you said you were feeling bad yesterday and I told you to wait for me at home so that I could take you to the hospital later. Now you tell me that you walked all the way from our house across the village to the hospital and then across again to visit Sofai? That can't be good for you after you weren't feeling well."

Hinata was pinching the bridge of her nose while Sasuke bit his tongue harder. Naruto glared at him when he accidently let a couple of laughs through.

"Don't you think you're taking this a little too far? I may be pregnant but it's only been a couple of months so there's nothing serious to worry about. Not to mention that I am still a full fledged shinobi and one of the elite of Konoha. I know what my limits are Naruto."

Naruto sighed and sat down next to her. "I know Hina, I'm just nervous. It's not as if I've done this before."

Hinata smiled and took his hand. "You're forgiven my overbearing husband. So, how have you guys been doing today?"

Naruto smiled evilly at Sasuke. "Apparently our little Uchiha has been doing some soul searching."

Sasuke quickly got up and walked to the entrance of the house, not liking where this conversation was going.

"Sofai do you want me to fix you your lunch?"

Sofai nodded eagerly and went after her father as he crossed the threshold. When Sasuke was out of hearing distance Hinata and Naruto put their heads together.

"So how did it go with Sakura?" Naruto asked, careful to whisper.

"I got her. She was still thinking about it when I left. I think a little bit more and she might just admit it out loud. How are things going with Sasuke?"

"I just told him about it after Sakura left. All through our sparing he looked like he was concentrating on something distant. He actually dropped his guard all together at some points to stare blankly into space."

Naruto started chuckling while Hinata was just smiling smugly.

"I think they might catch on soon enough. Even if they don't realize it right away, Sasuke's probation doesn't end for a long time. They have plenty of time."

Just as Naruto stopped speaking Sofai came out of the house with a sandwich and a juice box. Sofai started eating her sandwich and then her eyes turned big as she started to frantically search around her.

"Oh no! Molly isn't here!" She started running around the yard searching.

"Sofai, who's Molly?" Hinata asked, slightly concerned about the small girl.

"Molly's my favorite dolly! I can't find her auntie!" Sofai suddenly returned to her lunch and sat down looking as if she was about to cry.

"It's okay Sofai. I bet you just left her in your room. Do you want me to go find it for you?"

Sofai looked up at Naruto and smiled a sad smile. She slowly nodded. Naruto got up from his position with Hinata and gave her a chaste kiss before walking into the house. As he started up the stairs the sound of running water stopped him. He stood a moment before figuring out that Sasuke was in the shower. When he figured it out he kept walking up the stairs. As he passed hallway after hallway one in particular caught his attention. Naruto knew that he was supposed to be looking for Sofai's room but curiosity got the better of him.

He walked slowly through the hallway that looked as if it hadn't been passed through since Sasuke left. His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the hallway and he saw the door up ahead. He opened the door curious to see what was on the other side. He looked around the room and noticed some pictures that were hanging on the side of the room. As he started walking closer to look at them he gasped at the first picture he saw. It was a picture of Sasuke's family. The glass holding the picture in was stained with blood.

He looked at the pictures after it and they were also stained in a similar fashion. There was a streak of blood running all through the pictures. Naruto started walking away slowly before a large spot on the other side of the room caught his attention. He walked towards it and saw that there were two similar puddles, one beside the other. Naruto's eyes widened in realization. This is the room where it happened.

This is the room where Sasuke's parents were murdered.

"What are you doing here?"

A voice behind Naruto startled him. He turned to see Sasuke, hair still sticking to his face from his shower, staring intently at him.

"Sasuke I'm sorry I was just trying to find Sofai's room and I got lost." Naruto couldn't look Sasuke in the eyes, afraid of what emotion he may find there.

"Her room is three hallways to the left. It's the first door on the right." Sasuke said, his eyes still looking directly at Naruto.

Naruto nodded and started to leave. As he passed Sasuke he took a quick peek at his eyes. They weren't angry like he expected them to be. They were filled with sadness. Naruto turned to see what Sasuke was looking at. The sadness was because of all the family pictures that were in the room, all defiled with the blood of his parents. All destroyed in his mind because of his psychotic brother's quest for power.

"You could always talk to Sakura about it. You know she'll be more than happy to help."

Sasuke's eyes slowly left the pictures to turn to Naruto. The ancient grief was still imprinted into his eyes.

"There's nothing to talk about."

Now Naruto was mad. He knew what Sasuke was doing. It was the very same thing he had done when he was younger. Sasuke was acting oblivious to the feelings he got from this room, hiding them away from those who really cared about him. Naruto knew what would happen. Eventually those feelings would eat away at the inside of Sasuke until he was only a shell of a human.

"Don't give me that shit. Let yourself open up. I know that you've had so much improvement since we were younger but you're still bottling up your emotions. Don't let this be your downfall."

Sasuke was just looking at Naruto.

_**For once this little dweeb might have the voice of reason. And I certainly trust Sakura the most at the moment because she has accepted me so graciously, even with her daughter.**_

"I'll give you your chance. Hinata and I will take Sofai today. We'll take her to school tomorrow and when Sakura gets home I want you to talk to her."

Sasuke only nodded. Naruto turned to leave. He forgot he still needed to find Molly before Sofai had a panic attack.

"Hey Naruto."

Naruto was already at the end of the hallway and turned to see Sasuke staring at him still standing at the entrance of the room. Sasuke started walking towards him until they were only a few feet apart.

"I know I was a dick to you when we were growing up and I don't deserve the friendship you're giving right now. I just wanted to say thank you." Sasuke smiled at Naruto.

Naruto smiled back. "You and Sakura both went through a lot in the last years, and I went through similar pain when I was young. We share that bond and I'd do anything to help you guys now like you helped me then."

Naruto turned and went in search of Sofai's room. As he had suspected, Molly was hanging off the side of Sofai's bed. He quickly got the doll and headed back to the front yard.

"I found Molly Sofai" He said, extending the doll to Sofai's awaiting grasp.

Sofai started laughing twirling around with Molly in her hands. Naruto smiled as he returned to sit next to Hinata.

"Hina, we're going to be taking Sofai with us today, is that okay?" He asked, slightly concerned that he didn't inform his pregnant hormonal wife about taking home Sofai before making promises to Sasuke.

"Of course it's okay honey. Why are we taking her though?"

Naruto let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He really was scared that Hinata would get mad at him because the first rule of pregnant women is to never **ever** upset them.

"I want to give Sasuke an opportunity to talk to Sakura about something important. I think he might finally let her break down the shell he's subconsciously made for himself."

"That's great Naru! Well, if we're going to take Sofai we better get going. We have a bed time to stick to because I need to go teach at the academy in the morning and Sofai has to go to school."

Naruto nodded and got up once again. He walked over to Sofai who had finished her lunch and was now reading a book with Molly tucked under her arm.

"Sofai, how would you like to go with me and your Auntie Hinata to our house for a sleepover?"

Sofai looked up at Naruto, a happy grin on her face.

"Of course Uncle Naruto! Can Molly come with us too?" She asked raising her doll in her left hand.

Naruto smiled and gently took the doll out of her hand. "Of course Molly can come. Now go to your room and get your backpack ready so we can take you to school tomorrow okay sweetie?"

Sofai smiled and nodded. She jumped up and ran to the house. Naruto chuckled at her antics and noticed Sasuke at the door. He started walking back towards the house.

"You don't have to do this. I can talk to her some other time. Right now your wife is in no condition to have you guys taking care of Sofai." Sasuke said, motioning to Hinata's barely there baby bump.

Hinata immediately stood up and faced Sasuke. "Don't underestimate me just because I'm pregnant. I'm three months along but I will still kick your ass Sasuke and don't you ever forget that. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go help Sofai get her things."

With that Hinata turned and stalked up the stairs, her anger practically visible. Sasuke only started at her wide eyed and turned back to Naruto who was nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Hormonal pregnant wife, what are you going to do?" he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I won't lie to you Naruto. She kind of scares me, and you are a brave fool for staying with her." Sasuke replied, getting over some of his shock.

Naruto only shrugged again. "As crazy as she gets sometimes, she's still the girl I fell in love with behind all those raging hormones and I know that she's happy she's having a baby. You'd imagine how happy we were when we found out since being a ninja for your village doesn't exactly scream lets have a baby."

Sasuke slowly nodded in understanding. "Why did you guys decide to have a baby if you're both in the ANBU ranks here? Isn't that jeopardy to her whole squad if she's incapacitated on maternity league?"

"We knew that the moment we found out she was pregnant. Hinata was going to try to go on missions while pregnant but when the hokage found out she threatened to take away Hinata's rank if she did anything reckless with a baby. So for the last couple of months a teacher from the academy with ANBU ranks has been covering with Hinata's team and Hinata has been taking over her class."

"Seems like a lot of trouble just for a baby."

Naruto firmly shook his head. "It's not just a baby. When I married Hinata I got a family that I had always wanted. When the baby is born then it'll also be part of our family, our life together. I would honestly give up my ranks as a ninja for that baby."

_**He must really be serious. The hokage must have some kind of rank as a ninja, and he's always been saying he was going to be hokage one day. It seems that while I left Naruto finally matured.**_

"Naru, we're ready to go now." Hinata said from the front door, a small duffle bag in her left hand and Sofai holding her right.

Naruto nodded and went to go help his wife with the bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder and headed down to where the road started. Hinata waited patiently while Sofai said her goodbye to Sasuke.

"Bye daddy. Tell mommy that I said bye too okay daddy?"

Sasuke nodded and bent down to give Sofai a hug.

"Don't worry honey, I'll make sure your mommy gets the message."

He slowly let go and watched as the three of them walked away. He took a deep breath and let it out.

_**Today has given me a headache. I'm just going to go to sleep and tomorrow I'll talk with Sakura when she gets home.**_

Sasuke turned and returned to the house. He locked the door and turned off the porch light as he made his way up to his bedroom. As he entered his room he saw something on his bed. When he turned on the lamp in his room he saw Molly.

_**Molly? But I thought Sofai couldn't sleep without her doll…**_

It was then he noticed a note beside the doll. He picked up the note and read the childish writing.

'Daddy molly wanted to stay so that you don't get scared during the night. Take care of her. Love Sofai.'

Sasuke couldn't help the silly grin that came across his face. He picked up the rag doll and turned off the light. As he slowly climbed into bed he made sure to carefully put the doll on his bedside table. He drifted off to sleep, not thinking of the difficult conversation that he would have to have with Sakura. Instead he dreamt of his daughter.

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Aw. I know it was kind of OOC but it was cute. I know that the whole Sasuke talking to Sakura about his parents is kind of random but it fits into the story later and it'll make a lot of sense. I wasn't really thinking about it when I wrote it but then I thought of how I wanted the story to progress and it totally fit without really meaning to. so don't worry, it's not just a useless filler made to make you want to rip your hair out

There's been a lot of speculation that Sasuke is the biological father of Sofai. I would just like to point out that when the story began Sasuke didn't even know who Sofai was and that Sakura was pregnant while he was gone.

Thank you to all of those who have reviewed. I have really liked all the feedback I've been getting on this story.

Please review. Comments, questions, concerns, suggestions. I'm always happy to hear any feedback on my work.


	10. While Sofai's away

_Sakura's thoughts_

**_Sasuke's thoughts_**

* * *

_I am never working through the night again. I swear it was bad enough when people were bugging me about "me and Sasuke" all afternoon. Those damn nosey interns better watch themselves. My whole double shift was spent answering their stupid questions about "us". There is no "us"!_

Sakura sighed. She knew that the interns weren't the only thing bugging her. After Hinata left her words rung in Sakura's head the whole day (and night).

_There is no us, but is that really what I want?_

She finished changing out of her scrubs and started leaving the hospital.

"Have a nice day Sakura."

Sakura turned to smile. "You too Kate."

As she stepped out of the hospital she took a deep breath and headed to Sasuke's house. Sakura decided not to use the shortcut this time because it have her more time to think and clear her mind before arriving home and having to deal with the source of her problems…Sasuke.

_I can't love him anymore, I just can't. I fooled myself into thinking he could return my love when we were younger, but I learned that he just couldn't. The day he left, he left me there alone after I put my heart on my sleeve for him. I can't do this to myself again. I will not go through the self torture for a man who cannot return my feelings._

_…Then again he has changed drastically. These past months that I've spent living with him I've seen him laugh more that I had in the 12 years I had known him before. Not to mention the extraordinary way he gets along with Sofai. Since the first moment she met him she was taken with him as if she'd known him her whole life. He even agreed to let her call him dad. Augh! This is just so confusing._

It seemed much too soon as Sakura rounded the corner towards the Uchiha Manor. The longer walk was supposed to help her clear her head, but all it managed to do is make her more confused. Damn Hinata! Sakura knew it wasn't really Hinata's fault; her feelings for Sasuke had been there all along. However, it was Hinata who uncovered those feelings once more after Sakura had buried them.

Sakura was dreading going into the house. She didn't want to have to face Sasuke while she was so emotionally confused (not to mention physically drained). She had to go in, however, because she wanted to see her daughter before she went off to the academy.

After finding her courage, Sakura got the key from its hiding place and opened the door. The sight that met her eyes shocked her. At this time Sofai would be getting ready for school, but the house was silent.

_She must have slept in. I leave Sasuke in charge for one day and my baby's going to get her fist tardy. Well, if I hurry her along we might still make it on time._

Sakura shook her head as she climbed up the stairs. All she wanted to do was go to sleep but now thanks to Sasuke she would be sprinting her child to school instead. She stopped outside of Sofai's room and knocked lightly.

"Sofai? Sweetie? It's time to get ready for school."

When nobody answered Sakura silently opened the door, expecting to see a lump under the comforter. The bed was still made, looking like it hadn't been slept in.

_Oh no! Where is she?!_

Instead of rationalizing the situation, Sakura dropped her purse and ran to Sasuke's room. Without bothering to knock, Sakura barged into the room and attacked Sasuke.

"Sasuke wake up! Something's wrong! Sofai isn't in her room! We have to look for her!"

The whole time she had been frantically shaking Sasuke on the verge of hyperventilation. Suddenly the emotional strain of the last day caught up with her as she started crying hysterically, collapsing onto the floor. Sasuke opened his eyes, looking angry that someone had so rudely woken him up. When he noticed Sakura sobbing on the floor he immediately got up and picked her off the floor. She clung to him, crying into his chest. He stood there and hugged her, his hand rubbing soothing circles into her back in attempt to calm her. Slowly the sobs that had wrecked her body turned into quiet whimpering, then into slight hiccups. As she settled down Sasuke pried her away from him to see if she was okay. He looked down at her and saw her smiling slightly at him. Sakura's knees suddenly gave out and she let herself fall, too exhausted to try and stop it. Before she hit the floor two strong arms wrapped around her waist.

"Sakura?!" Sasuke sounded slightly panicked.

He lifted her up and sat her on the edge of his bed. She swayed slightly but them seemed to get a grip on herself. Sasuke went and stood right in front of her.

"Sakura look at me."

She slowly lifted her head to find herself staring at Sasuke's perfectly sculpted abs.

_Does this man ever sleep with a shirt on? Then again, with a body like that he doesn't really have to…damn! This isn't helping my situation at all._

Sakura tilted her chin upward only to be met with Sasuke's worried gaze.

"Sakura how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

"Now?"

"Seven."

"How about now?"

"Five."

"How about—"

"I'm fine Sasuke honest. The all nighter got to me, that's all."

"You scared me there for a minute. First you come into my room screaming, then you start crying, then you just pass out. You sure know how to get someone up in the morning."

Sakura was about to make a sarcastic remark as Sasuke sat down when she noticed Molly on the nightstand and remembered why she had come into Sasuke's room in the first place.

"Sasuke, where's Sofai?" Sakura's eyes started to well up with tears as she prepared for the worst.

_What if she got kidnapped while Sasuke was asleep? What if she's dea—No! Get a grip!_

Sasuke pulled Sakura to him in a hug when he saw she was going to start crying again.

"Shh Sakura its okay, Sofai is fine. She slept over at Naruto's house last night."

Sasuke tensed as he felt Sakura stiffen in his embrace. She looked up at him with such fury in her eyes he felt a chill go down his spine.

"You were left here alone?! Don't you remember the hokage saying you weren't allowed to be by yourself? What were you thinking Sasuke?! You're on probation! Imagine the consequences for both of us if she had dropped in for one of her inspections and you were here alone! You shouldn't have—"

Sasuke suddenly let Sakura go and walked away. He swiftly climbed into bed and pulled the blanket over himself.

_He did NOT just ignore me!_

Sakura went to the opposite side of the bed from where Sasuke was laying down. The temptation to just start beating the crap out of him was staggering.

"Sasuke I'm responsible for you. If the hokage knew about this she would kill me! Do you understand the severity of what you just did?"

Sasuke lifted his head making his onyx eyes meet Sakura's emerald ones.

"Sakura yesterday was a stressful day. I am really tired and it is just too early for this. You can yell at me later, but right now let me go back to sleep."

Sakura took one of her hands off her hips and pointed her finger right at Sasuke's face.

"You listen to me Sasuke Uchiha—eep!"

Sasuke had suddenly reached for Sakura's wrist and pulled her into the bed towards him. Now Sakura was once again wrapped in Sasuke's arms and was flush against his bare chest.

"Go to sleep. You need to rest. You can yell at me in the morning."

His voice was tired and he slightly slurred his last words as exhaustion overtook him once more. It was obvious he was tired, but the reason was unknown to Sakura. Before Sakura had time to respond he was fast asleep, his chin resting lightly on top of Sakura's head. Sakura tried to escape his embrace but his iron grip held fast. When she had succeeded in loosening his hold, it became firmer and pulled her tighter against him so that now their whole bodies were connected except for Sakura's arms which were pinned between their chests.

_Well, see what you've gotten yourself into Sakura? Being wrapped in his arms after you came home didn't help this situation 'he loves me, he loves me not' did it? Oh well, there's not exactly much I can do now and it's not exactly as if I can escape. Might as well get some sleep, lord knows I need it._

She carefully removed her shoes using her feet and kicked them off the bed. The sudden movement caused Sasuke's legs to intertwine with her own. Now Sasuke's left leg was possessively clutching her right leg, their bodies still recklessly close. Sakura blushed as she realized how their situation would look to outside eyes. After a while of just laying there in his arms, Sakura was finally lulled to sleep by the steady beating of Sasuke's heart.

--

Sasuke slowly stirred as the scent of strawberries invaded his nostrils continuously.

**_Wait a minute…strawberries?_**

He slowly started to realize that his arms were gripping someone to him. There was someone else in bed with him, and judging by how petite the body felt he assumed it was a woman.

**_What exactly happened last night? Am I dreaming?_**

He cracked one eye open and all he saw was pink. He had almost convinced himself he was drunk when the body moved beside him. Finally he opened both his eyes and saw Sakura snuggling into his chest.

**_Oh. Shit. Did something happen last night?! No, I think I would remember something._**

Sasuke tried to remember what had happened. He suddenly recalled Sakura waking him up at 6 in the morning saying Sofai was gone. He looked down again. He saw spooning Sakura (her back was to his front) in his bed, in his room, while they were home alone, and he was currently not wearing a shirt. If someone, say the hokage for example, were to walk in at this instant they would surely jump to the wrong conclusion. Wishing not to get Sakura into more trouble because of him, he slowly started to untangle himself from her, careful not to wake her.

He slowly unwound their legs and when that task was complete he tried to gently remove his arms from around her. As soon as he started moving his arm Sakura's arm wound itself around his arms keeping them in their current position around her waist, resting on her stomach. Sasuke cursed under his breath.

**_Damn, I tried. It seems the only way I'm going to be able to do this is to wake her up. I just hope I don't end up neutered. I still remember how grumpy she used to get when we woke her up while on missions._**

Sasuke shuddered slightly at the memory. He sighed and settled back into bed. Everyone knew that waking Sakura up could be fatal. He subconsciously began stroking the back of her hand with thumb. He breathed in the aroma of her hair once more, and then caught himself.

**_What are you doing?! Weren't you saying yesterday that you didn't love her? Pull yourself together man! You don't love her. You don't love her. You don't love her._**

With that little chant in his head Sasuke started to gently shake Sakura.

Nothing.

He shook her a bit harder.

Nothing.

He shook her just a bit harder. "Sakura, it's time to wake up."

Sakura stirred for a minute, but merely snuggled her body even closer to Sasuke. Sasuke hissed slightly as her behind gently grinded against his front. This was getting out of hand. Sasuke needed to wake her up NOW.

He tried waking her again.

"Sakura you need to get up. We have to do something before Sofai comes home for school and we're wasting time—"

Sakura had turned around in Sasuke's arms and put her hand over his mouth, silencing him.

"Just a bit longer, then I'll get up I promise."

Sasuke sighed against her mouth and nodded. She smiled and reached up to kiss Sasuke's cheek whispering "you're the best" into his ear. Sasuke was frozen as she snuggled herself into his chest once more, shivering slightly as he felt her warm breath across his bare skin.

**_Okay, she's still delirious from her sleep. Yeah, that's it. She's just tired. She's sleepy; obviously she doesn't know what she's doing. It didn't mean anything at all._**

Although it meant nothing (at least that's what he kept telling himself), he hugged Sakura closer to him. He knew he was in denial about his feelings for her, but he didn't care. If he acknowledged his feelings for her, then that meant they were real. He knew that he could never tell her because of all the damage he did to her when they were younger. He had never acknowledged the love she said she had for him. When she told him that she loved him, that she would be willing to leave with him, to be by his side he made her pass out and left her there on a bench. She would never forgive him for breaking her heart into microscopic pieces. Too late now he realizes that he may have loved her all along, but the threat of his brother had stopped those harboring feelings from being acknowledged, even by himself. This is the first time he's felt something this strong for a female that was not related to him. He honestly didn't know what to do.

Well, really there was nothing he could do. He came to this realization after she had obviously gotten over him. She didn't want him, and he had to learn to accept that in reality it was his fault. Finally breaking from his stream of self loathing Sasuke turned his attention to the clock on his nightstand. 12:47 pm. Sofai would get out of school in about 30 minutes and he hadn't even gotten Sakura out of bed, let along talked to her.

_**I'll have to call Naruto for a favor.**_

Sasuke removed one arm from Sakura and reached for his cell phone on his nightstand. He dialed Naruto's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Naruto, its Sasuke. Listen, I need a favor."

"Sure man fire away."

"I was wondering if you could keep Sofai for another day. I still haven't talked to Sakura and Sofai is about to get out of school."

"Sure man, it's no problem. Just make sure you talk to her."

"I will. Hey man I got to go okay?"

Sakura was starting to stir on the bed.

"Yeah man. Laters."

Sasuke closed his phone as Sakura was opening her eyes.

"You know you said a little bit longer. It's been an hour already."

Sakura yawned into his chest and flipped him off without even raising her head. She felt his chuckling through her cheek as his chest shook. She finally leaned away from him and sat up. As she started to stretch, Sasuke got up from the bed and moved towards the door.

"Are pancakes for breakfast okay?"

"Shouldn't we be having lunch by now?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Do you want something for lunch then?"

"No, pancakes are okay."

He stood at the door way looking at her for a moment.

"How do you like your eggs?"

"Over easy please."

Sasuke nodded and left down the hallway. Sakura leaned back into his bed. As she buried her head into the pillow she noticed that the whole bed was giving off the scent of Sasuke. She inhaled deeply. It wasn't a cologne scent, but the natural scent that Sasuke had. It was a musky smell, but not overbearingly so. There was the smell of wilderness about him, like pines or dirt. She couldn't quite place it.

_The scent of Sasuke._

She breathed in once more. She giggled to herself like a teenager and got up from the bed. She left the room and headed towards the bathroom. She knew she was in deep, but she didn't care. It would hurt when his probation was over and she would have to leave, but in the meantime she would enjoy what she could. She smiled to herself as she heard the sound of falling pans and Sasuke's cursing. Sasuke, meanwhile, was trying to focus so he wouldn't burn their breakfast.

He was thinking of his probation. When it ended he didn't want Sakura to leave, but there was no way she would stay with him of all people. He would allow himself to succumb to his feelings while he was still staying with her. He started getting a silly grin on his face as he remembered the events of the previous night. He's surprised she didn't just start beating him after he pulled her into bed with him. The smell of burning pancake brought him out of his thoughts. He stayed focus with the rest of their breakfast, careful not to let anything else burn.

Sasuke quickly finished making the food and placed it all along with two cups of orange juice a tray. He picked up the tray and climbed up the stairs, reaching the first floor as Sakura stepped out of the bathroom. As she looked up her face was a mix of shock and…could it be affection?

"Sakura, if you could please go back to the bedroom."

"Why are you serving breakfast in bed?"

"Well, this morning when you got home from work you collapsed in my bedroom, twice, and I didn't want you falling down the stairs." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

Sakura's hands were on her hips. "I'm not weak Sasuke. I could have made it down the stairs."

He shrugged once more and started maneuvering around her. "Just humor me then Sakura."

_I think that may be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me._

"Sakura, if you insist on just standing there please tell me so we can eat in the hallway. If not then get over here, the food is getting cold."

Sakura chuckled slightly and went back towards his bedroom. He was already under the covers sipping slightly at his cup of orange juice.

"Really Sasuke, we don't have to eat in your bedroom."

"Sakura, you're still tired. I can see it in your eyes."

Sakura raised her eyebrow as she climbed under the covers once more. Sasuke shrugged once more and swallowed the piece of pancake he had been chewing.

"I've gotten fairly good at reading people's eyes over the last couple of years."

Sakura finally started turned her attention to her food. "When did you learn how to cook?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "You forget I've been on my own since I was fairly young. I had to learn how to cook for myself. Trust me when I say that it wasn't without effort. There were many times when I gave myself food poisoning, but in the end I learned at least the basics of cooking."

Sakura nodded and continued eating. They sat there in silence, but it was not uncomfortable or awkward. In fact it was a fairly pleasant silence filled only with the sound of clanking dishes. When they finished Sakura got up and took the tray. She started heading for the door.

"Sakura, I really must insist that you don't walk down the stairs."

"Don't worry about it Sasuke. I'll be right back; I'm just going to take these to the kitchen."

"Sakura."

Sakura turned to face Sasuke once again. He was not meeting her eyes, his focused on his hands in front of him, resting on his knees.

"I need to talk to you about something when you come back."

Sakura gulped slightly at the faint pain radiating from his voice. She nodded weakly and turned to leave. She quickly walked down the hallway and carefully walked down the stairs lest she actually fall. She hurried back upstairs, eager and at the same time nervous at what Sasuke wanted to talk to her about.

_Maybe he realized that you're showing affection towards him again. Maybe he's going to apologize for stringing you along, making you think he cares. No, stop that. He sounded sad, but it was strained as if he was trying not to show it. I think this issue might be more serious than he initially let on._

As she entered the room, Sasuke was pulling on a black shirt. He refused to look her in the eyes as she approached. He only took her hand and led her down the hallway, passing several more hallways. They finally reached the last hallway. He only stared down it for a moment. Sakura turned to see him clenching and unclenching his jaw, as if he was feeling physical pain from this hallway. She squeezed his hand lightly, as if telling him that she was here. He turned to her and smiled slightly, but the emotion didn't reach his eyes. He slowly started leading her down the hallway, her eyes alert to their foot prints in the collected dust, the pictures on the wall so caked with dust that you couldn't see them anymore. When she looked forward once more she noticed the single door at the end of the hallway. Sasuke stopped in front of it and took a deep breath in an attempt to steady his rapid heartbeat.

_**It's now or never.**_

He let go of Sakura's hand and slowly opened the door. Sakura stared into the room. It looked quite normal. There was a great bed to one side, the sheets all black. Then she stared at the other side of the room and gasped. She noticed the picture first of all. She walked into the room and looked upon the faces of Sasuke's family, their blood splattered features. She saw the Sasuke of her past, the young carefree boy. He was perched on the knee of his mother, his father standing proud behind them. To the side of his father was a younger Itachi. She felt an involuntary shiver and tore her eyes away from the picture. She turned back to see Sasuke still standing as she left him, his face still and emotionless.

She walked back towards him slowly. He stood staring straight at the picture of his family on the other side of the room. As she walked closer his gaze refused to budge. Making no noise she silently put her arms around him, locking her arms behind his back. He slowly moved his arms to return her embrace, his silent tears streaming down his face. She felt the tears falling down onto the top of her head, but she refused to move her position.

_He wanted me to see this. He's finally letting me in._

Sasuke finally let go of the self control he had been holding onto since he was 7 years old. He broke down. He started sobbing, losing feeling in his legs and letting himself just fall. Sakura held onto him the whole time, sitting on the dusty ground with him while he sobbed. He cried for a long while, letting all the built up pain of losing his family go in one blow. Sakura held him closer as the sobs racked his body, her hand running through his hair letting him let go. Once he had stopped crying he allowed Sakura to help him up. He kept his head down as she led him to the bed that had once belonged to his parents.

Sakura sat Sasuke and herself on the bed, her thumb rubbing circles into the back of Sasuke's hand. He finally looked up to see her looking at him. She wiped away two remaining tears with her other hand and cupped his cheek.

"Whenever you're ready Sasuke, I'm here to listen. Take your time; I know it's hard for you."

She smiled at him in reassurance and he smiled back slightly.

"I honestly don't know where to start."

"Well, why don't you start from where ever you can remember best."

Sasuke nodded and took a deep breath. "When I was younger…"

_**TBC…**_

* * *

Whoo! Another chapter up! i just want to take this moment to thank my faithful reviewers and all the people that have read this story thus far. I checked and therer have been over 7,000 hits on this story so i am extremely pleased :)

I'd also like to thank **Trelunas** for pointing out that mistake.

Also, I'd like to announce that this story will probably wrap up in the next 3 or 4 chapters. But on the bright side you'll find out who Sofai's father is in either the next chapter or the chapter after that. (whoo!)

Please review! Good, bad, or stupid i want to know your opinion!


	11. Open

_Sakura's thoughts_

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

* * *

"When I was younger, I always lived in the shadow of my older brother. Since the day I was born I was compared to Itachi."

Sasuke's eyes looked distant, recalling memories Sakura could only imagine.

"When I learned to talk, Itachi was already going to school. When I learned to walk Itachi had already learned the fire jutsus our clan was famous for. When I started training, I wasn't progressing as fast as Itachi. It took me months just to learn how to throw a kunai strait, whereas Itachi had learned it in a matter of days. While Itachi had broken a record in the shortest time to graduate the academy, I couldn't even form the proper hand signals for my fire jutsu. In the eyes of my father I was a failure as a son, while Itachi was a prodigy any father could hope for.

"My father would constantly remind me of my inferiority. He never said it out loud but every time he looked at me I could see it. He was disappointed that his second spawn was not as good as the first. My mother would be the one I was around most, when I was with her she shielded me from my father's disappointed eyes."

Sasuke's eyes glazed over at the thought of his mother. Sakura gripped his hand harder and he took a deep breath. He started this, and he planned to finish.

"I felt no love for my father. I respected him, but I never loved him because he never loved me. My mother would always tell me otherwise, she would defend my father saying that he did love me. But I know my father never loved me because I was a failure in his eyes. I would never compare to my brother, so I was not worthy of his love. My mom always smothered me with her love, always made sure that I all the love I couldn't have from my father was given by her. I tried so hard my whole childhood trying to live up the legendary Itachi Uchiha, to try and earn the love of my father, to make him proud of me for once in my life.

"Then Itachi began turning. He was always a good big brother to me. He would help me with my ninja lessons, help me with my techniques. He would keep me out of trouble, tell me stories, take care of me, and make sure I ate. He would also defend me in front of my father. He would anger my father with his stoic attitude, acting as if nothing mattered to him. Then Itachi changed all together. He would no longer play with me, no longer look after me; there were times when he wouldn't even look at me. At my age I didn't know what was happening to him, so my mind was only able to draw one conclusion. He, like my father, realized I wasn't worthy of his love.

"Itachi was the one role model I had in my life. I refused to look up to my father, a man who couldn't even love his own child. To me Itachi was everything. Of course there was my mother, but Itachi was the only one I could look up to because as much as my mom loved me; even she did not dare defy my father to defend me. Itachi defied my father, and defied our whole village. He chose to become ANBU instead of joining my father's police squad. He chose to choose his own path instead of the path that my father choose for him. But as time progressed, his defiance became almost hostile towards not only my father but my mom as well. Then word came back to the village that Itachi may have had a hand in killing a man. It was then that my father tried to put an end to Itachi's behavior, trying to control him again as he did when Itachi was younger. Now that I think back at it, I'm surprised it took Itachi so long to snap. When he did snap, no one was prepared for it. It just seemed like random timing, and no one knew why he did it. We were his family, his clan, and he disposed of us as if it were nothing."

Sasuke sat on the bed staring off into space. Sakura started rubbing circles onto the back of his hand using her thumb. It seemed as if Sasuke was done, but Sakura knew better.

_He has to get everything off his chest. Otherwise these memories will continue to haunt him. I guess he just needs a little help._

"What happened after that?" Sakura asked her eyes still focused on Sasuke.

Sasuke turned back to her, his expression making her think that he'd forgotten she was there. She just smiled slightly at him, encouraging him to go on, while giving his hand another gentle squeeze. He took a deep breath and squeezed her hand back.

"I was out practicing in the forest. When the sun started to go down I headed back to the village, back to the Uchiha Manor. As I started walking towards it, a pungent scent lingered in the air. It was almost as if there was a metallic taste in my mouth because of the smell, but at that moment I couldn't identify what it was. When I got to the front door I knew something was wrong. It was entirely too quiet. Usually there would be a loud conversation between my aunts and uncles, my cousins running around playing, my mother's music as she sewed, but there was nothing. Usually when I was home I would pray for some silence so I could study, but that day the silence was deafening. I walked through the gate, and I knew from the moment I stepped over the threshold something was terribly wrong. From inside the gate the scent was stronger, the metallic scent clouding all the fresh air. Then I saw it: my aunt and uncle lying in the doorway of their house. In the next house over my grandma and grandpa were lying in a puddle of their own blood. All of my cousins and the young children of the village were lying around a swing set we had in the village. I walked through the dirt streets, taking in all the dead bodies around me. I didn't panic, and I didn't scream. I think I was too deep into shock to react at all. I just kept walking through the village, taking in all the people I saw dead. Aunt Jodie. Uncle Shin. Cousin Ryu. Cousin Mel. Grandpa Joel. Grandma Rose. Their eyes were open and their bodies were lying in uncomfortable positions as if they just dropped dead. Then someone screamed. It was that scream that drew me out of my stupor. I dropped my bag and ran as fast as I could to my house. When I reached the back of my house I immediately threw opened the back door and ran up the stairs to my parent's room. When I entered the first thing I noticed was my father lying on the floor, blood seeping from a wound across his neck. The next thing I noticed was my mother's crumpled body lying against the wall. There was blood going across the wall in a line, almost as if it were purposely splattered there. Then there were the puddles of blood on the floor, the metallic smell stronger than ever."

Sasuke lifted his hand and pointed to the floor on the opposite side of the room. Sakura followed his finger and saw the spots on the floor. Years had made them fade, but they were still there staining the wooden floor. She turned back to see Sasuke looking at her. She kept her face free of emotions so he would be able to continue. The walls Sasuke had built for himself were completely down; he was entirely vulnerable at this moment. She had to be strong enough for the both of them. Sakura looked into his eyes and held back a gasp; his eyes looked deserted, haunted. Never had his black eyes resembled a black abyss more.

"Itachi turned to me, his sharingan activated. At that moment I was frozen in fear unable to look away from his piercing gaze. He turned toward me with a kunai drawn. At that moment I wasn't looking at him, but at the kunai clutched in his hand. It was dripping with blood, the blood of my village. He let me live, he pretty much told me it wasn't worth it to kill someone as weak as me."

He turned toward Sakura again, his eyes searching hers.

"To this day that my mother's scream still haunts me. It's the thought that if I had gone directly home instead of lingering in the village I might have been able to spare her; the thought that if I had just been a little braver, or a little faster, or a little stronger my mother might still be here today." Sasuke's head went down looking at his hands in his lap.

"You can't think that Sasuke. It's not your fault. If you had gotten there sooner then Itachi would have just struck you down with your mother."

Sasuke looked back up and stared into Sakura's eyes. "Sometimes I think it would have been better for me to die that day."

Sakura gasped. For the first time she saw how much agony was hidden in Sasuke's eyes. They were eyes that looked tired and worn, like they had seen too much in one life time. Sakura let go of Sasuke's hand, immediately feeling it go cold. She then slapped him. When he turned back to face her his eyes were a mixture of stunned and hurt. Sakura regretted it instantly. She quickly embraced him, tightening her grip when she felt him tense.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. Sasuke don't ever think that again. I mean, what would happen to all of us if you were to die? Think of what you're leaving behind. You'll never be able to see Naruto's baby. You'll miss Sofai's rebellious teenage years" Sasuke chuckled, slowly letting his tension dissipate "and you'll be leaving me. I mean, what would I do without you?"

Sasuke's body tensed once again in her arms and she regretted what she said.

_Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid Sakura! What were you thinking?! He doesn't like you like that and there you go throwing that on him. And at this time none the less. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…_

Sakura stopped her internal battle when she felt Sasuke's arms wrap around her, holding her snuggly to his chest.

"I'm so sorry Sakura."

_Huh?_

Sakura attempted to pull back to see his face but his arms had a vice grip around her.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For always being a dick to you when we were younger. For always ignoring you. But most of all for leaving you there when all you wanted was to help. I don't deserve your sympathy. I don't deserve your understanding. I don't deserve you."

Sasuke then released Sakura and buried his head in his hands. Sakura was just sitting there stunned for a minute at the sudden turn of events.

"Sasuke."

He didn't look up.

"Sasuke."

He turned his head slightly so that one of his eyes rested on her face.

"Sasuke, look at me."

Sasuke took his head out of his hands and looked at her, their eyes meeting once more. She then took one of his calloused hands into her smooth ones.

"You have nothing to apologize for…"

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue but Sakura held her other hand up.

"Let me finish. Yes you were a jerk, and at the time I was deeply hurt by that." Sasuke's shoulders slumped. She could practically see the walls coming back up, sealing Sasuke's emotions from the rest of the world.

"I am not done yet Uchiha so stop acting like a little girl and listen." One of Sasuke's eyebrows twitched and the corners of his lips were threatening to turn up.

"Like I said, I was hurt. Then I started speaking to Kakashi about it. He explained it to me. He told me about what Itachi had told you; how you were supposed to harbor hatred for him. He told me about how you were unable to get emotionally attached to anyone. At the time I didn't understand it, but over the years I understood that you didn't seal yourself off out of choice. Opening up just wasn't an option for you based on your past experiences dealing with your brother."

Sasuke took a deep breath and let it out. "Throughout my childhood I was so afraid of my brother. I was terrified that he might just come back one day and massacre everyone again. I didn't allow myself to get attached to anyone because if that day were to come, if Itachi were to return to kill more people, I wouldn't be wounded again. You can't hurt for people you didn't care about. I didn't want to hurt like I did the first time. Remember those two weeks after the massacre I didn't go to the academy?"

Sakura nodded. She had been worried for him those two weeks, but her parents didn't want her going anywhere near the Uchiha clan's land. She hadn't found out why until a couple days later when she heard about what Itachi had done.

"I spend those two weeks curled into a ball staring into nothing, letting the grief of losing my entire clan in a couple of hours consume me. I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, and I tired not to even blink really. I was so miserable, warped up in my own hole of self pity. Kakashi showed up at the beginning of the third week and dragged me out of there. I didn't put up a fight, I couldn't even if had wanted to. I was so depleted I couldn't even stand. I didn't want to experience that again."

Sakura gripped him even closer to her, making sure to give him all the support she could.

"I heard about that."

"You did? How?" He asked, meeting her eyes with burning curiosity.

_At least he's got life in his eyes again._

"My parents were talking about it. It was a little after you left, they were discussing the massacre. My mom had been working in the hospital when Kakashi brought you in. She said you were dehydrated and you body was so weakened that it had started shutting down. They were worried you were gonna...die."

Sakura chocked out the last part, the pain that she had felt the moment she heard that coming back to her. She started to quietly sob into Sasuke's chest. Now it was Sasuke's turn to do the calming.

"Sshh Sakura it's okay."

"I was so scarred when I heard that. I didn't know you had gone through so much. And it was just days after you left, so I had no idea how you were or if you okay or not."

"It's okay Sakura. I'm here right now and I'm not going anywhere." He kissed the top of her head and rubbed circles into her back. She finally calmed down and looked up into his eyes. They slowly drew closer to each other until their faces were only inches apart. Slowly the distance got smaller, their breathes now mingling.

A knock on the front door made them jump apart. Sakura was blushing and Sasuke looked a bit uncomfortable. Another knock on the door make an echo travel though the mansion. Sasuke cleared his through and got to his feet.

"I had better get that."

Sakura only nodded unable to lift her gaze to look at him.

He walked out of the room and through the hallway, his hand running through his messy black hair. Once he was out of the room Sakura took a deep breath, willing her face to cool down and her heart to slow down.

_Oh my bejesus. I was about to kiss Sasuke Uchiha._

Resisting the urge to squeal like a teenager, Sakura willed her feet to move as followed the voices coming from downstairs. As she descended the stairs she saw a head of blond hair following Sasuke into the kitchen. A sudden unearthly, blinding, infuriating rush of jealousy consumed her.

_He would not just have another woman in with him after we were about to kiss. He wouldn't, he couldn't. Would he?_

Letting her uncertainty get the better of her, she quickly descended the rest of the stairs and made her way to the kitchen. As soon as she was through the doorway she felt small arms circle around her legs.

"Momma!!"

Sakura looked down and smiled at the sight of her daughter. She bent down, picking up her daughter and placing her on her hip.

"How's mommy's favorite angel doing?"

"I'm good momma. I was walking home with granny Tsunade."

Sakura looked back up to see Tsunade and Sasuke looking at her.

"You're lucky I like ya kid or you wouldn't be getting away with that 'granny' business." Tsunade looked at Sofai, a playful scowl adorning her features.

Sofai giggled and hid her face in the crook of Sakura's neck, causing Tsunade to laugh. Sakura smiled down at her daughter and looked back up to see Sasuke staring intently at her. She blushed slightly and looked back down at her daughter.

_I can't believe I was actually jealous. _

Sasuke was the first to break the silence.

"So, what are you doing here Lady Tsunade?"

Tsunade turned her attention to Sasuke. "It was time to see how your probation was working out for you. I had run into Hinata on the way over here and she told me she was coming to drop of Sofai. I offered to do it, you know, killing two birds with one stone."

Sakura nodded. "So, what is it about Sasuke's probation?"

"He's only got this week to go."

Sakura was so stunned she almost lost her grip on Sofai.

_One week? That's all I get with him? One week?_

She knows that she should be happy for him, he'll finally get his freedom back, but she was selfishly hoping the probation would last a year or ten.

She glanced at Sasuke. He was keeping his eyes focused on Tsunade, his face betraying no emotion.

"I thought I was on probation for like two years. It hasn't even been one."

Tsunade shrugged. "Some of the elders want to let you off for good behavior. Plus there are some of them that want to let you off as quickly as possible so you can find yourself a girl and get to repopulating the Uchiha clan."

Sakura's jaw dropped slightly at Tsunade's bluntness. She turned to see Sasuke, his face as red as the tomatoes he liked so much. This made her break out into laughter so strong she had to put Sofai down.

_Who would have thought? Sasuke blushing! _

Sasuke turned to glare at her, his face, if possible, becoming even redder. By the time her laugh attack had finished Sakura was doubled over with her hands on her knees.

Sofai had made her way over to Sasuke, clutching his hand.

"Daddy, is momma okay?"

Sasuke looked down to see his 'daughter'. "I'm not sure honey. I think your momma might have finally popped the big vein in her head."

Sofai looked a little panicked before she started pulling Sasuke's arm down. "Daddy we gots to help her!"

Sasuke kneeled down beside Sofai. "She'll be okay honey, don't worry. Come on, lets go get you to your room to put your stuff away."

Sofai nodded and put her arms around Sasuke's neck as he picked her up. He looked back up at Tsunade who was looking between him and Sakura with a knowing look in her eyes. She raised one eyebrow at him, causing him to blush slightly.

_**Why am I blushing? There's nothing going on…**_

His mind then took him back to the moment in his parent's room when they had almost kissed.

_**No! Stop! You'll blush harder. Okay, maybe there was something going on, but she wouldn't know about it. I mean, are we that obvious?**_

Sasuke cleared his throat. "Thank you for bringing us the good news Tsunade. Would you care to join us for dinner?"

Tsunade smiled a little. "No thank you Sasuke. I have to get back to work, Hokage duties and everything."

Sasuke nodded. "Please feel free to stop in any time."

Tsunade nodded once more and exited. Sasuke walked past Sakura, who was still trying to catch her breath, and took Sofai to her room. He was about to turn towards her room when Sofai lightly tugged on his hair to get his attention. Sasuke stopped walking, not wanting accidentally trip with her in his arms, and turned his attention towards Sofai.

"Daddy, where's Molly?"

"Oh yeah. She's in my room honey. Do you want to go get her?"

Sofai eagerly nodded her head. Sasuke turned and walked down the hallway towards his room. The door was still open, so he walked strait to his nightstand and crouched slightly so that Sofai could reach for her doll. Once Sofai grasped the doll she brought it to her arms and hugged it fiercely. Sasuke straitened back up and smiled at Sofai's antics.

"Did she keep you company daddy?"

"Oh yeah, she made sure I was safe."

"Was she okay?"

Sasuke smiled and nodded. "I made sure no boogie men got near her."

Sofai smiled, appreciation and happiness radiating from her big eyes.

"Daddy, I think she wants to thank you."

"Really?" He said, turning slowly back towards the door.

Sofai nodded and placed the doll so that it was facing the side of Sasuke's face. She put the dolls face on Sasuke's cheek and made a small kissing sound. Sasuke chuckled slightly.

"Thank you Molly. That was sweet of you."

Sofai nodded and placed the doll back into her arms. She then leaned up and kissed Sasuke's cheek herself.

"Thanks for keeping her safe daddy."

"Of course honey." He kissed her forehead and looked back up towards the door. He froze when he saw Sakura leaning against the door frame looking at him. He felt the blush start climbing his neck. Her eyes were looking at him with adoration.

"That is so cute."

Sofai turned her attention towards her mom. "Momma! Are you gonna kiss daddy too?"

Sasuke felt the blush heat his ears. Sakura looked from him to Sofai and smiled.

"Why would I kiss your daddy? What did he do to earn a kiss?"

"He kept Molly safe momma." Sofai stuck out her arm, Molly tightly grasped in her hand.

Sakura nodded and looked impressed. "That is quite and accomplishment. I guess daddy's earned himself a kiss, don't you?"

Sofai nodded and placed Molly back in her arms. Sakura started to slowly walk towards Sasuke. He tired to look at everything but her; his closet, the ceiling, the walls, the door. His eyes finally landed on her as she was only a foot away. He shifted his feet nervously, gripping Sofai just a bit tighter. Sakura was finally in front of him and leaned into him. She kissed his cheek tenderly for a moment, then pulled away. He didn't know if he should feel disappointed or relieved.

She smiled at him and then kissed Sofai's nose, causing her to burst into giggles. Sasuke smiled down at her and started walking back down the hallway towards her room. He placed her down by her door and turned to walk back down the stairs when she closed her door. He bumped into Sakura who was standing right behind him. She momentarily lost her balance and he held onto her waist to steady her. When she stood up strait again, it took him a moment to remember to remove his hands. He blushed slightly and mumbled an apology before stepping around her and going down the stairs.

_**Jesus! Why are you getting so flustered? And you need to stop blushing!**_

_Aw! He is soo cute when he blushes!_

Sakura giggled slightly before following him down the stairs. He was in the kitchen preparing a sandwich for Sofai. When he heard her approach he turned toward her.

"Do you want a sandwich?"

Sakura shook her head. He turned back around and continued slicing vegetables.

"Would you mind terribly if I asked you to baby-sit Sofai tonight?"

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at her. "Not at all. May I ask why?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What's with the manners?"

Sasuke shrugged. "It just feels weird. I didn't know how it would feel to tell someone about, well, everything. It feels so relaxing, like something's been lifted off my shoulders. I guess I just don't know how to act anymore."

Sakura walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. "Just act like yourself. You don't have to act any different just because I know all your deepest darkest secrets." She teased as she took a drink of water.

"Oh that just makes me feel loads better." He replied, the sarcasm in his voice making her laugh.

"It should. Anyway, Ino invited me for a girl's day out since it's the first time none of us has had to work."

Sasuke nodded and returned to chopping vegetables. "It's no problem."

Sakura smiled. "Thanks Sasuke. You're the best."

Sasuke smirked. "Tell me something I don't know."

Sakura hit his shoulder lightly before grabbing her purse and heading towards the door.

"I'll probably be home late alright?"

Sasuke walked towards the kitchen table, placing down Sofai's sandwich with carrot sticks on the side and a juice box.

_Damn, he knows her well._

"Have fun."

With that Sakura walked out of the house and closed the door behind her. She started walking towards the center of the village where she agreed to meet Ino. Lord knows she needed a girl's night out to help figure out some of the emotions going through her mind.

As she walked she pondered everything that happened today. Sasuke had actually opened up for her, broke through all of his barriers so he could speak freely to her. That scared her as much as it pleased her. This meant that Sasuke was getting more emotionally attached to her, enough to trust her with something that no one had been trusted with before. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it brought back the subject that she had been trying to avoid. She knew now that she was in too deep with Sasuke, again, but she couldn't help it. The only difference is that this time he seemed to feel the same about her. I mean, he opened up completely to her, and tried to kiss her. That had to count for something, right?

Sakura sighed. It was too late anyway. Even if he told her right now that he hated her guts she would still love him.

_Because I always have. It didn't go away, just got buried under everything else that was going on in my life. Now he's back, but he'll be leaving soon._

That brought on another dilemma. Sasuke's probation was almost over. What would they do after that? Sofai has already grown attached to the big mansion, as had she. They would have to return to Sakura's apartment because surely they would have no reason to stay in the house after Sasuke's probation is over. Then there was the fact that Sofai considered Sasuke her father.

_Then again, that is better than having her know the truth about her real father._

Sakura shuddered at the thought. No matter what happens, Sofai would never know who her father was. She's too cheerful to have to live with that knowledge.

Sakura was standing outside her destination: The Burndt Jamb. This was the bar/restaurant where they all usually hung out for 'girl's night out'. She sighed and walked inside.

"Sakura! Sakura! Over here!"

Sakura turned towards the sound of the voice calling her name and smiled when she saw her three best girlfriends at their regular table. She walked to the table and sat down at her regular seat next to Ino. She hugged her friend and smiled at her other two companions. Ten Ten and Hinata smiled back.

"What took you so long? I called like an hour ago." Ino playfully accused.

"Well, considering the Uchiha manor is on the other side of the village I think I did pretty good time. That and I was talking to Sasuke before I left."

"What were you—"

Ino was interrupted by the waiter arriving. "Good afternoon ladies. What can I get for you to drink while you order?"

Hinata was the first to answer. "Can I have some ginger ale with a twist of lemon on the side please?"

The waiter nodded and turned toward Ten Ten. "Can I have a raspberry iced tea?"

The waiter nodded once more and jotted down the orders, turning toward Ino. "Just a Diet Coke for me please."

The waiter turned towards Sakura. "I'll have a Cosmo with extra cherries."

The waiter nodded. "I'll be right back with your drinks and I'll take your orders."

The waiter left and Sakura turned back towards her friends who were all looking at her funny.

"What is it?"

Ten Ten spoke first. "Starting a little early aren't we? I mean, a Cosmo and we haven't even started eating yet."

Ino turned towards her friend. "Rough day?"

"Oh you don't know the half of it."

The waiter returned with their drinks and took their orders. As soon as he left Ino turned to Sakura.

"Okay, spill"

Sakura sighed and took a sip of her Cosmo. "I'm on emotional overload right now. First I want to hate Sasuke, then today I love him, now I—"

Hinata raised her hand suddenly. "Did you just say you _love_ him?"

Sakura blushed slightly, nodding her head and taking another sip of her drink.

"I'm honestly a complete emotional wreck right now. I just wish I could forget it for a while and just have peace in my thoughts once more."

Ten Ten looked at Sakura. "Well, I'm not sure about peace, but if we hit the bar after this then with enough drinks you'll forget for sure."

Sakura nodded eagerly. She just wanted out of her mind for a few hours.

--

Sasuke woke up from the constant knocking on the front door. He turned towards his clock. Who the hell would come knocking at 2:37 A.M? He got up and yawned as he started towards the door. When he finally got to the bottom landing of the stairs he heard it. Giggling. Lots of giggling.

_**What the fuck is going on?**_

He went to the door and opened it, surprised to see Hinata and Naruto carrying Sakura, one of her arms slung over each of their shoulders.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Sakura started giggling again when she saw Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke you're wearing a shirt!" her voice was slurred.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stepped forward, cradling Sakura in his arms and relieving Hinata and Naruto of their burden.

"Thank you guys for bringing her home."

"No problem dude."

"Goodnight Sasuke."

"Goodnight Hinata."

As Naruto and Hinata were stepping off the porch he closed the door. He fixed Sakura so that he was carrying her bridal style. When she started giggling again he rolled his eyes once more.

_**I can't believe she went out and got drunk. I really hope she didn't do this while Sofai was still younger or something.**_

Sasuke shook his head in a disapproving way and started heading towards the stairs. As he was climbing the stairs Sakura suddenly reached a hand to cradle his cheek. Sasuke recoiled a little because her hands were so cold.

"Sasuke did you know tha cho have stumble?"

Sasuke looked confused. "Stumble?"

Sakura nodded slowly, still cradling his cheek and looking fascinated. "Like in that story I used to read."

"What story?"

"The one wit the oinkers and the hairs on their chinny chin chin."

With that Sakura started giggling into his chest again.

_**Oh I get it, stubble…and the three little pigs. Sakura sure is a random drunk.**_

"You know what I'm talkin bout right Saski-Sasuie—why is your name so hard to say? I'm gonna call cho somethin else…hows bout Sully? Like that blue man from the mousie movie!"

_**What the hell? Mouse movie? Sully, blue guy, mouse movie. Really, really random drunk.**_

"No."

"Oh come on Sully!"

"Fine, just keep your voice down. Sofai's sleeping."

Sakura nodded quickly, making her eyes loose focus for a second. Then she put her finger to her lips and blew, making a raspberry sound that had her in a giggle fit again. Sasuke reached her room and opened the door. He set her down, gripping her arms to help her steady herself.

"Sully, I don't feel so good."

Sasuke quickly scooped her up in his arms again and ran with her to the bathroom. They made it just in time, Sasuke holding her hair back while all the alcohol she drank came back up. When she was finished Sasuke helped her clean her face and brush her teeth. He then carried her back to her room.

He placed her back on her feet. "You okay?"

She wobbled a bit, gripping his forearms to help steady herself. She nodded slowly. He turned to leave but stopped when she gripped his forearms tighter.

"Don leave me. I'm scared."

Sasuke sighed and took a seat on her bed. She turned towards her closet and took out an oversized t-shirt. Still wobbling slightly, she began to take off her shirt. Sasuke saw this and his eyes widened.

"Jeez you could at least warn me or something."

"Oh please, you aint gonna do nothin"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Sakura for all you know I'm a crazy rapist or something."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "I dunno I still kinda think you're gay."

She started giggling again and turned away as she put her shirt on.

_**Oh yeah? Well, I bet I could scare you. Teach you for calling me gay.**_

Sasuke got off the bed and slowly crept towards her. He activated his sharingan, knowing that it would freak her out to see red eyes in her dark bedroom. He was almost behind her when she turned around. Her eyes widened in shock and fear. She immediately crouched down, hugging her knees, eyes closed. Sasuke went to her but when he grabbed her arm she started screaming.

"No! Get away from me!"

Sasuke deactivated the Sharingan and pulled Sakura to him. He held her while she cried. He picked her up again and set her down on her bed. She held onto him, not letting him go while she cried into his chest. When her sobs died down he tucked her into her bed and turned to leave. Once again her hand on his arm stopped him.

"Please don't go Sasuke."

_**Well, she seems to have sobered up. I wonder why she reacted that way.**_

Instead of voicing his questions he climbed into the bed next to her. She turned and buried herself into his chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer.

Today he had taken down all his walls and spoken. Tomorrow it was Sakura's turn.

_**TBC…**_

* * *

Well, there you go. I have to say it took me three times re-writting this chapter to get it up to where i wanted it. In the next chapter all secrets will finally be revealed! Hooray!

By the way, Burndt Jamb is a song by a band called Weezer. That is what i was listening to when i wrote this. Good song, if you haven't already then i recommend listening to it. That whole CD (Maladroit) is freakin awesome :)

REVIEW PLEASE!!


	12. The Morning After

_Sakura's thoughts_

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

Sakura slowly woke from her deep slumber. She felt next to her for the body that should be there, but her hand grasped nothing but air. She turned her head to see the empty bed.

_Maybe I was dreaming that we slept in the same bed. It seemed so real though…_

She slowly sat up and stretched, a loud yawn escaping her lips. It was then that the pounding in her left temple hit her. She quickly reached for her head and groaned. Oh, the joy of a hangover. She looked at her nightstand where she usually kept a bottle of water. There, she saw the two aspirins someone had put out for her. She gratefully swallowed the pills and took a big drink of water. She got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Sakura put the bottle back and looked at the clock for the first time.

_SHIT!! Shit, shit, shit, shit! Sofai's gonna be late for school!_

She quickly got up and balanced herself on the side of the bed when she got a blood rush. Then she quickly composed herself and threw on some jeans. As she was buttoning up her jeans she was already in front of Sofai's room. She looked up and was about to knock when she saw the note taped to the door.

**Sakura,**

**Just in case you completely ignore the note I left in your room I'll leave you another one. I took Sofai to school. If your drunken banter last night was any indication, you'll have a killer headache. Take the aspirin. I'll be back later**

**Sasuke**

_Aw, what a sweet sounding jerk._

She shook her head, not believing she allowed herself to get drunk last night.

_I wonder what he meant by drunken banter. Jesus, I hope I didn't do anything to embarrass myself._

With another groan she made her way downstairs to get herself a drink of water. She knew that she wouldn't be able to eat anything solid for a while (a symptom of being hung-over), but she needed something to get rid of her cottonmouth. She took the gallon of cold water kept in the fridge and took a drink strait from the gallon. As she was gulping down the water she heard the front door open and close.

"You know, we do have cups in the house."

She didn't even have to turn to look to know that he was leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen, arms crossed with a smirk on his face. She stuck her middle finger up in his direction, not once stopping her drinking. She heard his chuckle and her hand dropped back down to her side. Sakura finally put the gallon down and took a deep breath. She turned towards Sasuke.

"I needed that. You have no idea how much I needed that."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I beg to differ. I've been hung-over before."

Sakura felt herself blush before turning to put the remaining water back in the fridge.

"Please, please tell me that I didn't do anything embarrassing or stupid last night."

Sasuke turned without answering, going to take a seat on the couch in the living room. "Lets just say that you better never piss me off or I'd have a lot of blackmail."

Sakura banged her head on the closed refrigerator door. "That bad huh?"

"Yes, it is that bad."

She lifted her head and went to sit on the recliner next to the couch. "What did I say?"

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly as he remembered something. "I need to ask you something….who the hell is Sully?"

Sakura looked confused. "Sully?"

"Yeah, last night you couldn't say my name so you started calling me Sully. Something along the lines of a blue guy in a mouse movie."

Sakura blushed and looked away from Sasuke, focusing on her bare feet.

"So?"

"So what?" she asked, still not facing him.

"What the hell is a Sully?" he asked, getting a little frustrated with her invasiveness.

"It's a monster from a movie Sofai used to love. It was a Disney movie called Monsters Inc."

Sasuke leaned back into the sofa. Now it was time for the hard question.

"Why did you get so freaked out when I activated my sharingan?"

Sakura tensed. That part she remembered. She recalled turning around the see the red eyes that had haunted her for so long.

"Well, I was scared. I assume that was your intention, to scare me." The lie flowed easily from her lips. Ever since she had gotten pregnant, she was able to lie better. Not that she was a compulsive liar or anything; it's just that sometimes there were things she'd rather keep to herself. Her lies usually worked on most people.

However, Sasuke was not most people.

"That's bullshit and you know it. Getting scared is just screaming or something and then getting over it. Drunk or not, you do not get that worked up over a normal scare."

Sakura sighed and dropped her head so that it was resting in her hands. "Look Sasuke, I have a massive migraine and I don't really want to talk about it right now.

Sasuke stood abruptly, causing Sakura to turn her attention towards him. His jaw was set firm, his stance angry and his eyes flaming. She was a bit startled (and dare she say it, scared) to see him react this way.

"I get it now," he said, his teeth gritted, "I let my guard down and told you of all the horrors I've been through because I trusted you. Obviously you don't trust me enough to do the same."

He swiftly turned on his heel and headed towards the stairs. Sakura stood shocked for a moment before getting up and catching up with him, gripping his forearm with all her might to try and turn him around. No matter how much she tugged, he wouldn't budge to face her. She gave up for a while and just gripped his arm so that he wouldn't try to walk away from her. She fought against the sting of tears developing behind her eyes and his coldness towards her. Yesterday, he was so warm and kind to her. Now, yesterday seemed so far away.

"Sasuke, it's not like that. It's just something I don't want to talk about, something I've never talked about to anyone. I just keep it repressed in my mind."

Sasuke laughed bitterly. "And I suppose you think I go around telling everyone that I think it's my fault my mother got murdered."

Sakura mentally smacked herself.

_Definitely not the right thing to say you stupid, stupid woman._

Sakura increased her grip when she felt him trying to take another step away from her.

"That came out wrong. Please, just understand that I don't want to talk about it."

Sasuke turned his neck so that their eyes met. Sakura had to repress the shiver that ran through her spine at the sight. His eyes were the darkest she'd ever seen them; cold and endlessly black. Any progress she had made with him yesterday was just blown out the window because of her lack of courage. This was the Sasuke she had grown up with. The human shell.

"Fine."

He pulled his arm out of her grip and walked up the stairs, leaving Sakura standing there her arm still outstretched. As she heard his bedroom door close she dropped to the floor and hugged her knees, crying at the fact that she had just done that. Sasuke had opened up to her completely, answered all her questions, and shared with her a part of his life he had kept repressed for over half of his life. And there she was, unable to share one bit of information with him.

_But it's not just the information. How will he react? He'll never be able to look at me again without feeling disgust. And what about Sofai? She loves him so much, and if I tell him he'll never be able to look at her either. I can't do that to her, I just can't hurt her that way._

_The look in his eyes. I can't believe they were so cold. Then again, I may as well just slapped him in the face earlier. I can't believe I said that. 'It's just something I don't want to talk about, something I've never talked about.' How could I be so inconsiderate? He has every right to be mad at me. _

It was then Sakura stood up and wiped away her tears. It took every ounce of courage she had to walk forward and start climbing the stairs. Sasuke opened up to her, accepted her daughter, never once complained about having to spend money for them, and given them access to his whole mansion, all of his land, without any complaint. She had to give something back.

_The way you just behaved was disrespectful and ungrateful. He'll probably look at you with disgust anyway, might as well have it be for a good reason._

She stood outside of Sasuke's door. Sakura took one shaky breath to try and calm herself and raised a trembling hand to knock on the door. One knock, two knocks.

_Now or never._

"Come in."

Sakura gathered all her courage once again and turned the knob. She pushed the door open, slightly surprised to see Sasuke between the sheets of his bed. Forgetting why she was there for a moment, she raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. Sasuke still looked angry, but shrugged anyway.

"I didn't get much sleep last night."

Sakura walked further into the room, closing the door behind her. "Sorry about that. It won't happen again, I promise."

Sasuke once again shrugged, a slight smirk tugging at the edge of his lips. "It's not me that made a fool of myself, so I really don't mind."

Sakura blushed and sat down on the edge of Sasuke's bed.

"I'm sorry about that. I was out with the girls and things got a little out of hand. Ino drank more than me so I bet Shikamaru is having a wonderful time dealing with her."

Sakura started nervously wringing her hands together and looked up at Sasuke. He was sitting up looking at her, waiting for her to say what she needed to say.

"The reason I was so scared last night was because it reminded me of the night that…that Sofai was conceived."

Sasuke's fists clenched and his jaw tightened. Sakura looked back down at her hands in her lap and continued on before she lost her nerve.

"I had been sent on a mission and it had been a success. I was coming back when I was ambushed. I don't exactly recall what happened, it's all a bit fuzzy, but when I woke up I was beat up pretty badly. When I went to the river to wash up I…"

Sakura took a deep breath but ended up letting out a choked sob. Sasuke quickly gathered her into his arms and held her while she let out a few tears. She quickly wiped her eyes and continued with her story.

"I went to wash up and I noticed I had blood running down my legs. I assumed that I had been hit but then I heard someone behind me. They said something like 'You're finally awake'. I recognized the voice immediately."

"Who was it?" Sasuke's voice was strained as he tried to not let his anger show.

Sakura ignored his question and continued with her story.

"I fought to get away and eventually I was able to run. Naruto found me a little outside the village and took me to the hospital right away. I was treated and kept in intensive care over a couple of weeks. Hinata was the one that told me I was pregnant. She used her byakugan and told me she saw a different spin of chakra in my uterus. I was devastated."

Sakura shivered in Sasuke's embrace, remembering those horrible memories. He held her tighter and rubbed her arms.

"I didn't want it. I didn't want my own baby. I asked the Hokage to get rid of it. She refused, saying that it wasn't the baby's fault that it came to be. She told me to focus all my chakra inside of myself. That's when I first felt Sofai's chakra. It was hardly there, so tiny I could have missed it. But when I felt it, I couldn't just let her be killed. I had to let her live. My parents had been killed already; she was all I had left."

"But Sakura, who was it? Who did it to you?"

Sakura wiggled her way out of his embrace and looked him strait in the eyes. It was now or never. This was the moment that could decide whether Sasuke would hate her and her daughter forever. It was now.

"Sasuke, Sofai's father is…"

--

The Hokage knocked a few times on the door of the Uchiha residence and waited. After a few minutes Sasuke came to the door. Tsunade couldn't understand why he looked so…troubled. It looked like he wanted to kill someone, cry, and just run away all at the same time. Tsunade shook the thought out of her head; she was here for business purposes.

"Uchiha, since you'll be free from probation in a couple of days you need to come with me to the ANBU training facilities so that you can join ANBU ranks."

Sasuke took a deep breath and closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge between his eyes.

"Right now isn't a really good time Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade scowled. "We're not doing this according to your schedule Uchiha. You're going right now and the next few days. You better get used to it too because you'll be there from dusk 'til dawn."

It was then that Tsunade noticed that Sakura had slowly been making her way down the stairs. It looked as if she had just been crying. She was looking from Tsunade to Sasuke's frustrated form. Every time she looked as Sasuke it was as if she expected him to just turn around and hit her. Tsunade shook her head of such thoughts; she had probably just drunk too much sake and was imagining things. It was obvious to anyone that Sasuke was in love with Sakura, so he wouldn't ever hurt her.

"Now Uchiha we haven't got all day. Grab your stuff, we're leaving right away."

Sasuke opened his eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry Lady Tsunade but right now is really not a good time. There's some stuff I need to take care of first."

Sakura slightly flinched at those words knowing he was referring to what she had not moments ago confessed to him but her reaction went unnoticed by the now furious Hokage.

"Uchiha, if you're not changed and out of this door in the next three minutes the only thing you're going to need to take care of is making a will before you're executed am I clear?"

Sasuke nodded and hurriedly went back upstairs to change into his usual clothes. Sakura watched him go and looked back to Tsunade who was watching her with interest.

"What's wrong Sakura? You look absolutely frightened" she commented as she saw Sakura's eyes then her own eyes narrowed "He didn't do something to you did he? If he did I'll make sure he won't live long enough to even look at you again."

Sakura quickly shook her head. "No Tsunade he didn't hurt me."

_I think I may have hurt him._

Sasuke came back down the stairs and walked right past Sakura without looking at her. He continued past the Hokage until he was waiting a few steps from the porch. The Hokage closed the door and had Sasuke follow her, jumping on the roof tops so speed along their journey to the ANBU training center. Sakura stood staring at the door long after they had left.

_He hates me. I knew it, I knew he would. He couldn't even look at me._

Sakura broke down into sobs at the base of the staircase, clutching her knees tightly to her chest.

As Sasuke traveled in silence with the Hokage he remembered the words that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"_Sasuke, Sofai's father is Itachi."_

_**TBC…**_

_**

* * *

**_Tun Tun Tun! This chapter was a lot longer but i decided to split it into two chapters. The next part is dramatic! I just need to get a pre approved from my Joey-bear and i'll be good to post.

I know a lot of people guessed Itachi. It'll go into more detail of what happened that day, not like graphic detail but just more detailed that it was in this chapter. Stay tuned!

One more thing. It's small and won't take much time...Please REVIEW!!


	13. Reckless Abandon

_**Sasuke's thoughts**_

_Sakura's thoughts_

_Sofai's thoughts_

_

* * *

_

Days had passed and they had hardly seen each other. Sakura knew that he couldn't help it; he was always training or sleeping because he was tired from training. Still, she couldn't help but feel she was partially responsible for his absence. Sofai was taking it the hardest. She kept repeating that she missed him and continuously asked when he was getting home. Sakura didn't know how she would deal with it if she knew that they were leaving in only two days. Her little girl would be crushed.

These were her thoughts as she prepared to go to work that morning. She put on her scrubs and was getting her hair up when she heard the front door open and close. Sasuke trained from dusk until dawn. He usually trained through the night and came home a little after she left for work. This had been the first time he had gotten home before she left to work. Sakura held her breath as he walked past her room. She continued getting ready only after she had heard his bedroom door close.

Although she had missed him being around the house, she still wasn't ready to talk about it. She wanted to put off any discussions about her past and their future. At that moment she just couldn't handle it. She quietly crept down the stairs so as to not disturb Sasuke. She remembered the grueling days of the ANBU training camp and knew that Sasuke needed as much rest as he could get. As she walked to work she made a decision about Sasuke. She would just have to hope that he'd be awake when she got home.

---

Sakura got home and immediately dropped onto the couch. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes rubbing them to alleviate their dryness.

"Rough day?"

Sakura shot strait up. She hadn't noticed Sasuke sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich. He watched her as he slowly took another bite out of his sandwich and chewed.

"You can't even imagine…what have you been doing to yourself?!?"

Sakura stood up and rushed to Sasuke's side. He looked at her questioningly before he noticed her gaping at all of his open wounds on his bare chest. He merely shrugged.

"It's been a hard couple of days at camp."

Sakura nodded remembering that she couldn't go a day at camp without getting some new cut or bruise.

"Come on, lets get you cleaned up." Sakura grabbed Sasuke by the arm and started pulling him up so she could get him cleaned up. She always kept a first aid kit with her; she had a young daughter after all. Sasuke finished eating his sandwich while he was being pulled up the stairs.

Sakura entered her room and sat Sasuke down on the bed. She pulled out the first aid kit from under the bed while he just looked around her room. He had never actually been in there before. It was so…pink. Sakura started getting out cotton balls and rubbing alcohol for all his cuts.

"This might sting a little." She warned as she started swabbing the biggest cuts on his back. His only reaction was to flinch.

As she continued in silence she got up the courage to say aloud what she had decided earlier that day.

"You know, your probation only lasts two more days. Lay down on your back please."

Sasuke nodded as he did what he was told. Sakura got another cotton ball and continued cleaning all the wounds on his chest. Sasuke patiently waited for her to continue as she worked her way up. She spoke again when she was treating the small cuts on his face and neck.

"I think me and Sofai will start moving out tomorrow."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, his breath caught a little.

_**She's leaving…**_

But Sakura didn't see this reaction. She kept her eyes trained on his scrapes not wanting to look him in the eyes.

_The last thing a girl wants to see is joy when she says she's leaving._

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts when Sasuke gripped her wrist. Her hand was paused slightly over the small cuts on his neck as she looked into his eyes. They were intensely looking right back into hers.

"You're leaving?"

Sakura gulped softly before nodding. "I think it would be better if Sofai and I left."

Sakura continued to stare into his eyes as he slowly pulled her closer. She thought she heard a loud sound downstairs but her blood was rushing through her ears so fast she was sure she imagined it. It felt like hours before their lips met softly. It was Sakura who deepened the kiss, bringing her arms around Sasuke's neck, digging her fingers into his hair. She combed her fingers through his hair as she continued to kiss him for all she was worth.

_Stop! What are you doing?!? You're just going to make it harder when you have to leave. And when he gets a…a wife you're going to be heartbroken again. And this time you'll have no one to blame but yourself._

Sakura detangled herself from Sasuke, not having felt when his arms circled her waist. She pulled apart from him slightly out of breath. She noticed that he too was gasping for air. Sakura stood and started putting away her first aid kit.

"None of your cuts need stitching. Just make sure to take care of them so they don't get infected."

Sasuke couldn't believe it. There they had been, kissing so passionately and she just pretty much told him to leave.

_**She doesn't want you.**_

"Thanks" was all Sasuke uttered as he left her room. Sakura let a single tear run down her face as she lay down on her bed once more. She was so tired. Slowly she drifted to sleep where the pain of losing the love of her life, again, didn't hurt.

---

"Sakura wake up."

Sakura slowly opened her eyes. She saw Sasuke standing over her with a worried expression on his face.

_Wait…worried? Sasuke has never been worried about anything._

Sakura sat up and yawned while stretching her muscles.

"What's going on?" She asked after she finished yawning.

"I need you to not freak out. Can I have your word that you will not freak out?"

Sakura was starting to get an anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. This couldn't be good.

"Why would I freak out?"

"Do I have your word or not?"

"Yeah yeah whatever just tell me what's going on."

Sasuke looked into her eyes.

"Sofai is missing."

Sakura sat up so quickly Sasuke took a step back. Her eyes were wide and filled with disbelief.

"W-w-what did you just say?"

Sasuke went to sit next to her on her bed. "Sakura you said you wouldn't freak out?"

Fury invaded Sakura's emerald eyes. "How the fuck do you expect me to not freak the fuck out?!? It's my fucking daughter for Christ's sake."

Sasuke pushed her back down when she attempted to get up.

"We're getting it taken care of. I have to take you to go see the Hokage now. She's setting up the ANBU guards. They're gonna search every square inch of the city and the forest. You just need to breath."

Sakura took a deep breath and relaxed herself. "So when are we going to leave to search?"

"**We **aren't searching for her, I am."

"But…"

"No buts. The teams on the mission to aid the Sand Village have returned and they're in bad shape. You're to report to the hospital immediately. You are, after all, the head doctor."

Sakura sighed in defeat. There was nothing she could do unless she wanted to lose her ANBU rank and she worked so hard to get that rank that losing it was out of the question.

"Just please take care of her. She's practically defenseless."

"Don't worry; I'm just as worried about her as you are. After all, she's my daughter too."

Sasuke winked back at her and left through her window, jumping from roof to roof in the moonlit night.

---

Sofai stopped by a large tree, her breath coming in short pants and her heart beating wildly. She didn't know where she was, and worst of all she didn't know where the village was. In her hurry to escape her house she didn't pay attention to where she was going. At the thought of her house her eyes started watering again.

_Momma wants to leave. I can't leave my daddy, I can't. I won't leave him, not after I just got him._

Sofai turned violently when she heard the rustling of trees behind her. When the rustling came from behind her again she turned back around, pulling a kunai out of her pocket.

A deep voice came from somewhere in the tree tops.

"Well well look what we have here. The one and only heir of Itachi Uchiha."

Suddenly a dark shadow jumped in front of Sofai. The only thing she was able to see in the darkness was the electric blue of his eyes and the malicious intent behind them.

---

Sasuke jumped through the tree tops rapidly using his sharingan to try and find any trace of Sofai. It didn't matter if his bastard brother's blood ran through her veins, she was still **his** daughter and no one would ever change that. It didn't matter if Sakura would move a thousand miles away, he would always find a way to return to his daughter eve if Sakura didn't want him.

He shook his head breaking him from that train of thought. The issues between him and Sakura were something he would think about later, right now he had to keep his focus on finding Sofai. He paused on a tree branch when he felt a pulse of chakra. He stood still waiting for it to pulse again. As he felt it again he took off at an even faster speed. He hadn't just felt Sofai; there was someone else with her and her chakra levels were decreasing every passing second. He had to get there fast or it might be too late.

---

Sofai raised her kunai again to stop the strike of the man above her. Her forehead was bleeding and her hands were raw and bloody. Every second that passed she felt weaker and weaker. Obviously this man was older and much stronger than she was. As she blocked another attack she felt her eyelids droop and her arm start to give out. As she was about to lose her grip on her kunai another dark figure jumped in front of her and attacked the man knocking him back into a tree. The figure slumped down the tree as the second figure turned towards her.

"Sofai are you alright?"

Her father's voice was like a warm cocoon covering her from her terror. She smiled slightly at him before slumping forward passed out cold. Sasuke caught her before she hit the floor, cradling her weak form in his arms. He turned as he heard a deep chuckle behind him.

"Now look at that, the Uncle has come to the rescue."

Sasuke's sharingan reactivated itself as his rage grew stronger.

"She's my daughter."

"To hell she is," the figure said as it stood back up, "That's the only heir to the Uchiha clan, the only daughter of Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke softly placed Sofai on the ground and then faced the man once more, drawing out a couple of kunai and throwing stars.

"Just who the fuck are you?"

"Me? I'm just someone looking for revenge," The man's eyes grew darker with hatred. "Itachi killed my family, it's only right that I return the favor. You and your **niece** can join him in hell."

The stranger attacked full force, the shear strength in his attack knocking Sasuke back a couple of steps. Sasuke blocked as well as he could and struck back by punching him in the stomach with throwing stars lacing his knuckles. The man coughed up a bit of blood but retaliated by kneeing Sasuke in the stomach and knocking him to the ground.

"After I finish off you two I'm gonna go after that bitch Itachi choose to have his only kid."

Sasuke felt a new serge of hatred flush through his veins. There was no way in hell he was letting this creep get anywhere near his daughter or Sakura. With renewed strength he picked himself off the floor and drove a kunai strait through the unsuspecting man's throat. The man stood clutching his throat staring into Sasuke's red eyes when he suddenly chuckled. Because of the wound in his throat his voice sounded scratchy and almost unintelligible but Sasuke was able to make out the words "left her defenseless."

Sasuke saw when the man suddenly pulled a small string and used his sharingan to see where all the booby traps were set up. There were many kunai all aimed to hit Sofai who was still lying passed out on the ground about 10 feet behind him. His eyes widened in horror as he heard the sound of the springs coming to life. He ran as fast as he could and was just able to cover Sofai's body with his own as the weapons started raining at them. He winced every time he felt the kunai stab his skin but he got through it for the sake of his daughter.

By the time the traps had run out every inch of his skin was burning and there was a puddle of blood around him steadily growing. He rolled off of Sofai onto his back crying out in pain as some of the kunai got imbedded deeper into his body. He was trying to calculate how many had actually pierced his body. His estimate was about 70 or 80 at the most. His vision was getting blurry and his ability to think strait was deteriorating by the moment. Next to him Sofai was finally starting to stir awake again. When Sofai opened her eyes she was greeted by the sight of a slumped corpse by a tree, a kunai sticking out of its throat. She tore her eyes away horrified by the sight only to be faced with her father in a puddle of his own blood with countless weapons sticking out of his own back. Sofai quickly got up and went to stand next to him, holding onto his hand. As she started to shake with tears she was rubbing his hand; she was trying to warm it up because it was getting colder by the minute.

"Daddy, daddy please don't go daddy."

Sasuke smiled weakly. "Hey kid, just remember I loved you. Tell your mom I loved her too."

Sasuke's eyes closed he passed out from loss of blood. All that could be heard for miles around was the sound of a little girl crying for her father to wake up.

_**TBC…

* * *

**_Everyone was calling Sasuke a jerk for rejecting Sakura, so i decided to turn the tables and have Sakura reject Sasuke instead.

I bet no one saw the ending coming, am i right? Well today was my 15th birthday so i was feeling extra happy and i finally finished this chapter. Sadly i think the next chapter will be the last.

Please Review! Please Please Please Please Please review!!!


	14. When Everything's Meant to be Broken

Silence.

It was deafening, suffocating him. It invaded every crevice until he could feel nothing. His limbs were numb, the silence corrupting him. He couldn't speak, couldn't breath, couldn't move. He forgot who he was.

What was he doing here?

Why was there so much silence?

Slowly his senses became unplugged giving way to numbness. He wished for the numbness to take over the pain that had just erupted in all his limbs. He wanted to be numb, he didn't want this pain.

There was a jolt in his chest and the numbness started receding. The pain started again, his body slowly recovering its ability to feel. He didn't want to feel, he wanted the numbness back. He wanted to once again to be back in the abyss.

---

Three days. Sasuke had been unconscious for three days. Sakura was beyond herself. She hadn't left the hospital. Sofai would start bawling every time she came to visit; seeing her adoptive father in this state was not the best thing for a girl as young as her. As much as she was grateful that Sasuke was able to save Sofai from certain death she also wanted to reprimand him for being so stupid. He could have done something else to prevent from getting hurt himself. He was one of the most skilled ninjas she knew; he could have easily created something to save them both.

She sighed. She knew it wasn't his fault and she would forever be in his dept for saving her daughter's life. The only thing she wanted now was for him to wake up. She still wasn't able to get the moment he was brought into the village dripping blood at every step out of her mind; all she needed was a sign that he would make it.

',',',',',',',','_flashback_,',',',',',','

"Momma!"

Sakura turned around and scanned for her daughter. Sofai came running up to Sakura tears streaming down her face. Sakura quickly picked up her daughter and hugged her tightly.

"Thank God Sofai! Don't you ever EVER scare me like that again!"

Sofai's tears continued to stream as her sobs were muffled by Sakura's neck. It was then that Sakura realized that Sofai's clothes were all sticky. When she pulled away from her daughter she gasped at all the blood she saw stained into her daughter's clothes.

"Sofai, where are you hurt? Tell mommy so she can make you better."

Sakura started looking for wounds while Sofai's wailed increased in volume and intensity.

"Mommy it wasn't my blood," Sofai managed to get out between sobs.

"Then whose blood was…" Sakura stopped mid sentence as she saw the procession of ninjas carrying someone through the village.

"No…" Sakura's voice was merely a whisper as she recognized the figure. She could only gasp in horror as Sasuke Uchiha was carried past her by the team of ninja. Her eyes followed them as they walked away soon becoming transfixed on the small path of blood trailing behind them. She saw at least 30 wounds on his arms and chest and could only wonder in horror about the amount still unexposed.

A hand grabbing her arm brought her out of her thoughts and she was turned to face Naruto.

"Sakura, you should take Sofai home. She's had a rough day."

"What happened to Sasuke?" Sakura's voice was only a whisper, the tears trailing down her cheeks.

Naruto sighed and scratched the back of his head. Sakura took the moment to gauge Naruto's appearance. He too was drenched in blood but had no visible wounds at all; it was all Sasuke's.

"We found him huddled over Sofai. We think he was attacked by a ninja who had a grudge on Itachi. Seeing as Sasuke is the only living relative of Itachi we assume the ninja tried to take him out. Sadly Sofai was caught in the crossfire and the ninja tried to attack her to get to Sasuke. Sasuke was able to kill him but before he died the ninja set off a booby trap. Sasuke protected Sofai and obtained all the damage himself."

_This is all my fault. He didn't want Sasuke, he wanted Sofai. He knew Itachi was her father. Sasuke got hurt because of us._

,',',',',',',',',','_end flashback_,',',',',',',',','

A nurse came into the room startling Sakura slightly. She hadn't been sleeping well and it was making her really jumpy. In fact, she hadn't really left the hospital at all since Sasuke was admitted. She was lucky Ino was able to babysit or Sofai would have to suffer through seeing her father like this everyday.

"Sakura, you should get some sleep. He's been stable for the last couple of days. You look exhausted and you haven't seen Sofai in days. He'll be fine."

Sakura shook her head. "Something could happen and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if he di…if something were to happen when I wasn't here."

She had to stop herself before she uttered those horrible words: 'if he died'. That was a thought she couldn't bear right now. He couldn't leave her like this; he couldn't leave them. Especially with his last memory of her being her telling him she was leaving. She couldn't stand to have it end this way.

Suddenly his wavelength monitor started going off the charts. (In case you don't know it's a machine that they hook to your head to monitor your brainwaves so you don't have seizures in your sleep.) Before Sakura or the nurse had time to react his heart rate started plummeting and he breathing got labored. The nurse ran to his side and pushed the emergency button next to his bed. Immediately a team of doctors and nurses entered the room. While they began working to stabilize him Sakura was escorted from the room by an older doctor.

"What are you doing?!? I'm a doctor at this hospital, I can help!" Sakura tired to escape his grasp but she was just too weak in her condition.

"Sakura calm down. Right now you are the family and you know more than I that families are not allowed to be in there."

"But why is this happening?!? He's been stable for the last three days."

The doctor sighed warily. "My best guess is that some of the wounds got infected. With the amount of wounds he received and the exposure they got in the dirt of the forest it's the best guess. This is just his body's delayed reaction to all the antibodies flooding his system. Don't worry, he'll be fine."

The doctor rushed back to the room and locked the door behind him. Sakura could do nothing but pace the hallway outside his room and pray for a miracle.

---

He'd been in the hospital for almost a week already. It took three doctors and five nurses to get Sakura to go home; it took five security guards to make sure she stayed. Although she didn't like it at all she had to say that after showering and having a good night's sleep she didn't feel like shit anymore. Moreover, she was now able to keep a close eye out for Sasuke without feeling dreamy or lightheaded. After his last plummet she realized that if she had been paying attention to the readings instead of trying to keep herself awake through exhaustion she would have been able to prevent the attack; she wouldn't be repeating the same mistake twice.

Now her only goal was to get Sasuke out of the hospital in the healthiest state. In his condition it wasn't saying much but it was all she could hope for right now. Sofai came to visit the day after his arrest. She stood on the side of his bed holding his hand and crying. She just kept muttering 'daddy wake up'; it broke Sakura's heart.

He was in a semi coma; of that she was certain. His body was sleeping to help repair itself faster. The only problem was that there was no way to know when he was going to wake up. It could be in a few hours, it could be months. Sakura prayed fervently that it was the latter. She wouldn't be able to be kept sane if she had to stay with him while he was like this for months; she would if that's what it took, she was determined not to leave his side until he woke up.

As she was returning to his room after making a trip to the bathroom she heard rustling. Figuring it was just the nurse she went to the hallway to get something caffeinated to drink. When she returned with her coffee she gasped and rushed forward. She dropped the cup on the floor spilling its contents in all directions but she didn't care; Sasuke was awake and sitting up on his bed.

She rushed to his side and immediately hugged him. After a small hiss of pain she pulled away only to feel his arms crushing her to him once more.

"Wait Sasuke you're still hurt." She tried to pull away but his arms were a vice grip around her.

Sasuke ignored her and kept crushing her small frame into his chest. After struggling for a while she realized she wasn't going anywhere and hugged him back; small tears of joy escaped her eyes as she realized what she had been praying for had come true: he had come back to them.

Feeling his arms relax Sakura pulled herself back and examined his face. She noted all the small scars on the sides of his neck. She ran her hands down his arms and felt all the small bumps where the scars would be.

"How long have I been out?" Sasuke asked her never taking his eyes off hers.

"A week. You had us all scared to death." She finally stopped her exploration at his hands. She intertwined their fingers feeling her eyes water once more as he gripped her hands tightly in return.

Sakura leaned her face closer to his. As their lips were about to meet Sasuke turned his head to the right; Sakura's lips met his cheek.

"Don't." Sakura felt the tears stinging at the back of her eyes. She gripped his hands tightly before letting go and jerking his face to meet hers head on once more.

Sasuke's eyes were shocked as they met her fierce and angry ones.

"What the hell do you mean don't?! Do you have any idea what you've put me through?! And I try to kiss you after finding out you're alive after waiting anxiously for a week and you tell me don't!?"

Sasuke's lips twitched and a small chuckle rumbled from his chest. Sakura's anger increased and she shook his head slightly.

"It's not funny you asshole!"

Sasuke chuckled slightly again before pulling her towards him crashing their lips together. Out of reflex Sakura attempted to pull back but Sasuke held her fast. Sakura relaxed in his embrace and closed her eyes turning her head and deepening the kiss. They stayed like that for an immeasurable amount of time. Finally when they both had to breathe they pulled away. Though they were no longer kissing Sasuke still held her close to him their deep breathing loud blocking out the sound of the heart monitor.

"I was just going to say don't because I haven't brushed my teeth in a week."

Sakura rolled her eyes and lightly smacked his arm minding his injuries.

"You are such an idiot. You could have died, I've been here for a week worrying about you dying, the only thing I've wanted to do when you woke up was kiss you again, and you're worrying about your breath."

She was giggling slightly by the end. Sasuke turned his head to face her once more. He gave her a chaste kiss before resting his forehead against her own.

"I'm sorry, they've given me a lot of pain meds and I don't really have my head strait right now."

"I guess you're forgiven." They continued to look into each others eyes as the heart monitor beeped steadily behind them.

"Ahem."

They both opened their eyes wide in alarm. They untangled themselves from each other and turned to see a smirking hokage in the doorway.

"Well I see you're feeling better Uchiha."

The smugness in her voice made them both blush and pray that she hadn't seen their display of affection right now.

"I was just coming to say that Ino's in the lobby with Sofai. She wanted to know if it was okay to come for a visit. I'm guessing she doesn't know you're awake yet?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Well then, I'll tell her to get up here strait away. She's been dying to see you better for days now."

_**TBC…**_

_**

* * *

**_

Goodness, I thought I posted this ages ago. I realized the other day that it was still sitting in my computer. Gosh I feel like such an idiot -.-

I'm soooo sooo sorry for such a long wait. It's been months already. Jeez, well I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. The next chapter is the last for sure and I'll get it in before the week is up (promise)

As always I only ask for a small review :]


	15. Hopelessly, Endlessy, Forever

"DADDY!"

Sasuke didn't have a chance to brace himself before Sofai crashed into him full force. He hugged her back with all the strength he could muster despite his injuries. He had been prepared to die for her and he would do it over again to ensure her safety. He actually felt a tear roll down his cheek as he held her thanking the gods over for keeping her alive.

For Sakura to lose him was one thing, but for Sakura to loose Sofai, that could very well kill her. It all comes back down to one thing: Itachi was to blame.

But there was no use keeping a grudge. Itachi was long since dead and Sasuke was freed. Now there was only one problem to deal with: Sakura had said she wanted to leave him.

As Sasuke finally released Sofai from his hug and cradled her on his lap he contemplated what he was going to do. He wasn't good with words and he didn't easily express emotions; years of isolating himself and bottling it all away didn't reverse in a matter of weeks.

"Sasuke, I have some bad news."

Sasuke finally directed his attention to the Hokage who had been standing in the doorway witnessing the scene. Sakura got up from her chair, her eyebrows furrowed in worry and fear.

"Is there something wrong?"

Tsunade put her hands up. "There's nothing physically wrong with him. He's as healthy as someone can be after getting stabbed over one hundred times."

Sakura and Sasuke both flinched at the number.

_**How am I even still alive?**_

"No, you're being allowed to discharge after today. We were going to ask Naruto to look after you but seeing as his son might be arriving any day now I don't think that would be wise. However, you can't be alone in that big house of yours since you still have mandatory bed rest for the next two weeks. So, I'm assigning a nurse from the hospital to live in your house and help you."

Sakura was jumping for joy on the inside! Surely the Hokage would choose her and she would have an excuse to not leave Sasuke's side, at least for another while.

"That's why I'm assigning you Nurse Sheena."

Sakura only just stopped her jaw from dropping to the ground. Nurse Sheena was known to hit on anything that breathed and she was going to be taking care of Sasuke 24/7?! Sakura could only imagine the things she might try to get away with, especially with Sasuke. No, she would not have this.

Sasuke was equally as shocked. He thought for sure that the Hokage would choose Sakura.

"Why Sheena?" Sakura asked attempting to seem nonchalant about it.

The Hokage smirked knowing that this aggravated Sakura to no end. It was not unknown to the Hokage that Sakura harbored a deep distain for Sheena or that she was hopelessly in love with Sasuke (again). If it helped them to admit their feelings for each other she was up for a little pushing.

"Well, I remember how you didn't want to be assigned to monitor Sasuke last time. Now since all he requires is a nurse, we have more available people to help him. Plus, Sheena specially requested to be Sasuke's nurse."

Tsunade smirked as the smoke coming out of Sakura's ears almost became tangible. She knew that last bit would get her if nothing else.

Sasuke was just there cradling Sofai who had fallen asleep in his arms. He didn't know this 'Nurse Sheena' but apparently Sakura was not a big fan of her. Now he would have to get stuck with her in the home he had made THEIR home. Just freaking great.

"I'll do it."

Tsunade felt like smirking at Sakura but knew better with the temper she had.

"Sakura I couldn't do that to you. You just came off of taking care of him for a couple of months strait."

"I said I would do it. In fact, it would be my honor and pleasure. You can tell Sheena that I'll be taking care of Sasuke."

_And she better not forget it._

Tsunade smiled and shrugged. "Fine by me. Actually this is more convenient since you haven't moved out yet. Hope you feel better Uchiha."

With that she waved and left the room. Sakura cooled down a bit before turning to Sasuke who had his eyebrow raised in question. Sakura sighed and laughed under her breath.

_That sly dog, she knew that this would happen. I shouldn't have gotten so worked up, now I'll have to explain._

"So, who exactly is Nurse Sheena and why where you so opposed to her. It's just a nurse not a suitor."

"That's what you think. She'll flirt with anything that moves. I came in here once while she was 'changing your bandages'. She was practically molesting you while you were in a semi coma."

"And this is exactly why I don't like hospitals. Can we get out of here now? These white walls are giving me a headache."

"Sure, just give me Sofai and we can get going."

Sasuke looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms and shook his head.

"Before I passed out I thought I hadn't been able to save her. I just kind of need to hold her right now, you know?"

Sakura nodded and turned to discretely wipe a tear from her eye. If she had lost either, or worse both of them, her world would have fallen apart. She honestly didn't know what she would have done.

As she waited in she waited in the hall while the doctors finished some last tests and checked Sasuke's health she studied how her life had changed so drastically. She had thought she was fairly comfortable with her life until Sasuke showed up again. Now, she was so accustomed to waking up to see him training in the back yard, to having him brew her a cup of coffee in the morning, to having Sofai so happy about having a father for the first time in her life, to always having that presence that makes her feel not alone.

She didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted to stay with him, and judging by his actions earlier when he woke up, he didn't want her to leave either. He was so intertwined in her life that she just couldn't remember what it was really like without him there.

Why? Why had she told him that she wanted to leave? Why did she have to be so stubborn and pigheaded? Maybe he wasn't going to reject her, maybe she was just being afraid of getting hurt again. However, she almost lost him. He had almost died and the last real thing that they had said to each other was that she was leaving him. No, Sakura wasn't going to waste this opportunity that she got.

Finally after extensive tests to see if his mental health was stable Sasuke was allowed to leave. With some quick jutsus Sakura transported them strait from the hallway of the hospital to the front door of the Uchiha manor. Once again Sasuke could only raise his eyebrow to her.

She merely shrugged. "I was eager to get home."

Sasuke smiled to himself. He loved the way she said home. It was like she was stating that it was her home, their home.

As Sasuke made his way to his room Sakura went to place Sofai in her own room. Sofai had been going through a lot lately. He only father had been lying on a bed on the brink of death thanks to a man she didn't even know was her biological father. It had been a rough week.

Sakura understood why Sofai got so upset with the news that they were leaving Sasuke. She knew what some of the villagers had been saying behind her back. They were calling her a whore and a slut for having a child outside of marriage. Worse yet was that she refused to say who the father was making people believe that the father might have been married to someone else hence his identity had to be kept secret. These words didn't affect her. She had her daughter and beyond that she didn't give a shit what the villagers where making up. She knew the truth of that horrible event although the only other people that knew the other shinobi. She had asked them to remain quiet; she didn't need people to know her life and pity her for being raped. She didn't need people's pity; she didn't care what those close minded idiots thought.

Sofai, on the other hand, was another story. She was only a child yet all her life she had been looked down upon. She was born illegitimately to a mother that was too young and a father she never knew. Although the adults wouldn't dare insult the daughter of a person that was practically the daughter of the Hokage they would still talk. This talk trickled down to their children who would in turn make fun of Sofai. In all her young life the only adults Sofai was close with where those that were friends of Sakura and knew the truth. She was always made fun of by children for not having a father. Then Sasuke came along and changed everything. When he agreed to be her father she was elated. No longer was she the outcast of the village and no longer would the children have any reason to tease her. She had been miserable at school and now she was so happy she probably could have flied. When she heard that he would be taken from her, that she would have to go back to how things once were, she crumbled.

Running into the forest was not the smartest thing but Sakura understood why she did it. After putting her to bed she went to check on Sasuke in his room. She took her first aid kit so that she could replace some of his bandages. As she entered his room she saw that he was sitting on his bed staring blankly at the wall in front of him. When he heard the door open he turned his attention to her, his intense eyes focused solely on her. She moved slowly towards him his eyes following her the whole way. She kneeled in front of where he was sitting and started to unwind the bandages around his ribs. She felt his eyes still focused on her but couldn't bring herself to make eye contact; looking strait into his eyes might make her break down and she had done enough crying in the last couple of days. As she finished unwinding the bandage Sasuke's hand grabbed her wrist. She finally turned up her chin and made eye contract with him.

"Don't go."

Sakura gasped a little at the expression in his eyes. It was somber and tired as if he had aged too much in too little time. It was then she noticed that his eyes were also slightly watering up.

"Please don't go."

His voice was thick with tears and cracked with the last syllable.

"I can't lose you, not again. I'm not strong enough to take it. I can handle getting stabbed a hundred times, but I just can't lose you."

Sakura felt her own tear rushing forth. She threw herself at him with such an impact that he fell back on his bed. Their lips met while the tears where rolling from both of their eyes. Sasuke wrapped his arms around her small waist as their kiss deepened. When they both finally pulled away for air Sakura placed her hands so that they were cupping his face and rested her forehead against his own.

"I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easily Uchiha."

Sasuke started laughing and Sakura soon joined in. Forgetting all about the bandages now laying on the floor they snuggled up to each other on Sasuke's bed both anticipating the new chapter of their lives that was about to unfold. As he was about to go to sleep he felt a small body wriggling its way between him and Sakura. Sofai's small head snuggled into his chest before stilling. He placed his hand on Sakura's waist, cocooning Sofai between them. For the first time in so long Sasuke felt that although this wasn't the ideal situation to be in and as weird as everything had turned out he was perfectly at peace inside and out. He knew things wouldn't be easy and they would have a lot of things to deal with but even with the lows he's had in the last year he wouldn't change anything about it.

_**THE END

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**_**Finally done! Whoo hoo! I'd like to thank everyone that has supported me and reviewed! I'd especially like to thank -x-NeCROpHiLIA-x- for reviewing every chapter :]**

**Once again, i only ask for a small review :]  
**


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